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Cape Town - South African two-time Grand Slam champion Lucas Sithole defeated third seed Heath Davidson from Australia in a three-set thriller to lift the Swiss Open quad singles title in Geneva, Switzerland on Saturday.
?The triple-amputee from Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal edged out Davidson 6-3 4-6 7-5 to clinch his first Swiss Open singles title.
The day after defeating Japanese top seed and current world No 4, Koji Sugeno, for the first time in their previous six encounters - 33-year-old Sithole bounced back from dropping the second set.
"It has been a tough road for me as I have been struggling with health issues the past year, but I have been working very hard with the main goal being to qualify for the Paralympics in 2020. So, winning the Swiss Open is a step in the right direction," said Sithole.
"It feels so good to win a title again. I will continue working hard."
In the women's event, the country's top ranked player, Kgothatso Montjane, put up a brave fight on the penultimate against top seed Yui Kamiji of Japan in the women's singles, but the Japanese player snatched a 1-6 6-2 6-4 win to deny the defending champion a spot in the final.
However, Montjane was a victor in the double's competition with her American partner Dana Mathewson. The South African-American duo edged out German second seeds Katharina Kruger and Sabine Ellerbrock 3-6 6-1(10-4).
The Swiss Open is an ITF level 1 tournament which forms part of the part of the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour.
Montjane and Sithole will now move on to the British Open, an ITF Super Series tournament in Nottingham, Great Britain from July 23-28.
