Kgothatso Montjane and Donald Ramphadi make it to Roland Garros doubles finals

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa’s Paralympic wheelchair players Kgothatso Montjane and Donald Ramphadi have made it into the French Open doubles finals.

In the quad wheelchair doubles, South Africa’s Ramphadi and his Turkish partner Ahmet Kaplan reached the final after beating the No. 2 seeds Andy Lapthorne (GBR) and Sam Schroder (Netherlands) 6-3, 2-6 (10-7).

And in the women’s doubles semi-final, Montjane with Japan’s Yui Kamiji toppled the No. 1 seeds Manami Tanaka (Japan) and Zhenzhen Shu (China) 6-1, 6-4.

Five-time Paralympian and wheelchair tennis star Montjane won her way through to the semi-finals earlier today when she upset the No4 seed Ziyng Wang in straight sets in the singles, 6-2, 6-4, to reach the wheelchair singles semi-finals where she comes up against No2 seed Aniek Van Koot of the Netherlands.

Montjane and Japan’s Yui Kamiji scooped the 2023 French Open and US Open wheelchair doubles titles, and in 2024, they secured the Wimbledon doubles championship, making Montjane the first Black South African woman to win at Wimbledon.

Roland Garros: SA's Donald Ramphadi is a double's Grand Slam champion

Wheelchair tennis ace Kgothatso Montjane makes it to the Roland Garros semi-finals

Roland Garros: Kgothatso Montjane grabs doubles Grand Slam

In 2018, Montjane made history by becoming the first Black South African woman to compete at Wimbledon. That same year, she became the first African wheelchair tennis player to participate in all four Grand Slam tournaments within a single calendar year. Her persistence culminated in 2021 when she reached her first Grand Slam singles and doubles finals at Wimbledon.

Meanwhile, Ramphadi won a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Paralympics with his partner Lucas Sithole in the quad wheelchair doubles.

In 2023, Ramphadi rewrote history as he became the first South African since 1981 to win a Roland Garros title.

Ramphadi, who is South Africa's leading wheelchair tennis quad player, won the wheelchair quad singles title at the Belgian Open - ITF 1 series - tennis tournament in Belgium in 2022, the year he made his Wimbledon debut.