TEN out of the 11 Zimbabwe junior tennis players participating in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Southern African Junior Championships in Windhoek, Namibia, have advanced to the second round of the tournament. REPORT BY VITALIS MOYO SPORTS REPORTER
Zimbabwe has fielded two players in each category except for the Under-12 girls where one player is participating.
Tournament regulations allow for three players in each category with the top seven players in each age group advancing to the African Junior Championships slated for Kenya in April.
Tennis Zimbabwe administrator Cliff Nhokwara said he was happy with reports coming from Namibia.
“So far so good, we had our players seeded on Tuesday and the second string of the tournament began yesterday (Wednesday) with almost all of the Zimbabwean players still in the competition,” Nhokwara said.
“All the players are still in contention for the finals that are set for Kenya with only Batsirai Saurombe, who was competing in the Boys Under-14 category, failing to progress to the next stage of the tournament.”
In the girls’ Under-16 category Nicole Dzenga qualified after beating Deana da Costa of Mozambique 6-2, 6-0 and Jackinah Rakotasy of Madagascar 6-3, 6-0 while Keren Muswere beat Ritumetse Metso of Lesotho 6-3, 6-1 and will now meet top seeded Sedi Jacobs of Namibia in her next game.
In the girls’ Under-14 category, Kimberly Bhunu beat Namibia’s Steffi Schultz 6-4, 6-0 in her second round game while Karen Machisa also qualified after being ranked sixth in the same category.
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In the boys’ Under-16 category, Julius Mtetwa and Alwyn Mushonga qualified after being seeded sixth and fourth respectively. In the boys’ Under-14 category, Mehluli Sibanda pulled through after he was seeded fourth after winning all his four matches.
Tinashe Hwata and Valentine Munyawiri were seeded fourth and second respectively in the Under-12 boys’ category to qualify to the next stage.
The only girl taking part in the Under-12 category Annet Matumba was seeded sixth after winning three of her matches in the first round and losing one match in her group.
