RISING female tennis star Nicole Dzenga did not live up to expectations after failing to make it past the second round of the International Tennis Federation/CAT African Closed Junior 18 and Under Championships in South Africa in what has been a disappointing tour for Zimbabwean players. REPORT BY VITALIS MOYO
Dzenga, a former Africa number one ranked player in the girls’ Under-14 category, lost to South Africa’s Theresa Alison Van Zyl 6-2, 6-1 in the second round of the singles category.
She was later knocked out in the quarter-finals of the doubles competition where she had teamed up with Thabile Tshatedi, losing to Egypt’s team of Hana Mortagy and Sandra Samir 6-3, 6-4.
The continental championships which began on Monday and conclude on Saturday have not been a happy hunting ground for local tennis stars as they have found the going tough. Most of the country’s representatives have been knocked out of the singles competition, while in the doubles competition the country’s hope for a title in the competition are now pinned on Ronzai Saurombe and Courtney John Lock set to play in the quarter-finals after advancing past the third round.
The nine players that were representing Zimbabwe are Alwyn Mushonga, Saurombe, Lock, Taremeredzwa Mariga and Luca Picci in the boys’ category with Latifah Yasini, Zarha Finnigan, Dzenga and Tshatedi in the girls’ category.
In the girls’ singles, Tshatedi crushed out in the third round, falling to Lina Qostal of Morocco 6-1, 6-2. Finnigan lost to South Africa’s Madrie Le Roux 6-1, 6-2, while Yasini was beaten in a second round match by another South African Janet Koch 6-1, 6-0.
In the boys’ singles, Saurombe edged past Morocco’s Soufiane Mouline 5-7, 7-6(6), 6-4 to book a quarter-final match against South Africa’s Wayne Montogomery while Lock comfortably sailed through after beating Nigeria’s Abubakar Tswako 6-3, 6-1.
Lock is set to play South Africa’s Matthew Roussouw in his semi-final match.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
The players that have been knocked out of contention will be playing for rankings in the rest of the tournament, while those that advanced will be seeking to stay on course hoping to make the final.
In the boys’ doubles, Saruombe and Lock were knocked out in the second round by South Africa’s duo of Montogomery and Roussouw 6-1, 6-2 while Mariga and Mushonga suffered the same fate in the hands of another South African duo of Francois Kellerman and Okkie Kellerman losing 6-3, 6-2.
Picci teamed up with Egypt’s Ahmed Alaa in the doubles competition to be knocked out in the first round by SA’s Yaseen Ibrahim and Joshua Luck 5-7, 6-1, 10-7. Yasini and Congo’s Aderotimi lost to Morocco’s Rita Atik and Lina Qostal 6-0, 6-2 in the doubles, in the second round while Finningan and Mauritius’ Emmanuelle De Beer were beaten by Egypt’s Hana Mortagy and Sandra Samir 6-1, 6-1 to crash out in the second round of matches.
