Johannesburg - South African tennis players enjoyed a good week on the ATP World Tour, ATP Challenger and ITF Futures circuit.
Cape Town-based doubles ace, Raven Klaasen, teamed up with his American partner, Rajeev Ram, to win the ATP Delray Beach Open in Delray Beach, USA on Sunday.
Second seeds Klaasen and Ram beat third seeds Treat Huey of Philippines and Max Mirnyi of Belarus 7-5, 7-5 to win their fourth ATP World Tour doubles title as a team and first of 2017.
"I think Rajeev and I have done some good things to improve our games and this week was another progression for us as a team. The crowd has been great all week. People really enjoy their doubles here and that makes it us fun for us," Klaasen said following the victory.
Lloyd Harris impressed in Japan when he reached the semi-finals of the Shimadzu All Japan Indoor Tennis Championships played in Kyoto.
Nineteen-year-old Harris, South Africa’s second highest ranked singles player after Kevin Anderson, lost to sixth seed Blaz Kavcic in the last four 4-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-7 (5/7). Harris had to qualify for the tournament and then upset top seed Yuichi Sugita of Japan in straight sets, en route to the final.
Davis Cup player, Nik Scholtz, reached the semi-finals of the Egypt Futures in Sharm El Sheikh, whilst his Davis Cup team-mate Dean O’Brien together with American Kevin King reached the doubles final of the ATP Challenger in Morelos, Mexico.