Top seed Takanyi Garanganga will take on veteran Genius Chidzikwe in today’s NetOne Zimbabwe Open Tennis final after they both recorded victories in yesterday’s semi- finals at Harare Sports Club.
US-based Garanganga outclassed veteran Martin Dzuwa with a 6-3, 6-0 straight sets win at the centre court while Chidzikwe, who knocked out defending champion Benjamin Lock in the semis powered past Malcom Mutungamiri 7-6 (3), 0-6, 6-3.
However, it was the clash between Garanganga and veteran Dzuwa which attracted most of the attention with the latter initially getting off to a promising start before running out of steam.
Dzuwa settled first, breaking Garanganga’s lethal serve in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead in the first set.
The temperamental Dzuwa lost his cool after some unforced errors allowing Garanganga, who played with a smile on his face throughout the match, to win the next four consecutive games to seal the set 6-3 inside an hour.
With the match firmly within his sight and his opponent visibly tired, Garanganga wrapped up the match with a clinical display in the second set in which he won six consecutive games to seal the match.
“Initially I didn’t settle down as quickly as I would have wanted but once I got in the zone I knew I would do well. Fortunately, it didn’t take me long to get into my groove and I just maintained the momentum from there on until the end.
Now my focus is on the final and hopefully I will just continue playing well,” said Garanganga. Garanganga walked away with a bronze medal on the Sportsman of the Year category at Thursday night’s Annual National Sports Awards (Ansa).
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He refused to comment about his opponent in tomorrow’s saying he would instead be focusing on his game.
In the ladies’ contest defending champion Valeria Bhunu will lock horns with US-based Fadzai Mawisire in the final after they both won their semi-final matches yesterday. Mawisire (23), who is a student assistant coach at Southern Illinois University in the US, beat Pauline Chawafambira 7-5, 6-3 to reach the final in her first tournament on home soil since her return from the US recently.
The 16-year-old Bhunu, one of the most promising junior female players in the country at the moment, was in devastating form as she dumped Tariro Dembo 6-0, 6-0.
