South Africa’s Chanelle Scheepers reached the second round of a Grand Slam for the first time on Sunday, but worried that few people back home would notice.
The 26-year-old from Pretoria defeated France’s Mathilde Johansson 6-2, 6-4 at the French Open, but she isn’t expecting her performance to cause many shockwaves in a country about to be gripped by World Cup fever.
“It won’t make a great difference. It’s always hard trying to promote tennis in South Africa,” said Scheepers.
“People try to get small pieces in the newspapers which we always appreciate. Whether there is football or not, this may not be a big thing.”
Scheepers is the first South African woman in nine years to make the second round of the French Open, following Amanda Coetzer who was also the last woman from the country to reach the second round of any Grand Slam.
That was six years ago at the US Open.
Scheepers came through qualifying here to make the main draw, just as she did last year.
In 2009, however, she was defeated by Russia’s Elena Dementieva, the 2004 runner-up and a top 10 player.
This time around Scheepers, the world 133, was facing a Frenchwoman whose ranking has tumbled to 241 and she took full advantage to record her best ever result at a major.
Scheepers, who has fallen in French Open qualifying on three occasions, will now face Argentina’s Gisela Dulko who stunned Belarusian 10th seed Victoria Azarenka 6-1, 6-2 for a place in the last 32.
“I’m really excited to be in the second round. Last year I had a tough draw. This time around, I just wanted to avoid getting a seed. I have been putting in a lot of hard work and it’s paid off,” she said.
“She was making some good angles today but I was able to move her around the court.”
Scheepers has enjoyed her best year on the circuit, reaching the quarter-finals of the Kuala Lumpur WTA tournament.
Dulko, the world 44, said her family had been scouting the South African’s game.
“My brother watched her match, so he’s going to give me feedback. I’ll take time to analyze her game,” said the Argentine who knocked Maria Sharapova out of Wimbledon last year.
South Africa will also be hoping to see a presence in the men’s second round later Sunday when Kevin Anderson takes on French wild card Edouard Roger-Vasselin. — AFP