United States-based Zimbabwe Davis Cup team payer Benjamin Lock ensured Zimbabwe avoided an embarrassing whitewash on home soil after Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Nerman Fatic retired due to illness in the last Euro/Africa Group II dead rubber match at Harare Sports Club yesterday.
BY DANIEL NHAKANISO
Lock had comfortably won the first set 6-3 when Fatic told the chair umpire that he would not be able to continue, thereby handing the match to Zimbabwe, who had lost the first four encounters.
“He wasn’t really feeling great. He was struggling with just breathing so he was unable to continue. I wanted him to play anyway because he needs the experience, but obviously couldn’t play all the way through. Ben (Lock) was playing well though,” Bosnia-Herzegovina non-playing captain Amer Delic said afterwards.
Lock, who had looked in control of the match and well set to finally put Zimbabwe on the scoreboard, said he was delighted with the experience of playing at home.
“It’s the first time I’ve played a competitive event here in six years. I felt the result could have been different with a few points here and there, but we learnt a lot and it will help us in our next tie here,” Lock said.
“I thought I was playing really well today (yesterday) and managed to close out the first set pretty nicely. I was looking forward to the second set. Unfortunately, he had some health issues. It’s never nice to win by a retirement, but it’s one of those things you can’t control.”
Zimbabwe had gone into yesterday’s two singles rubber matches hoping to restore lost pride after Bosnia-Herzegovina took an unassailable 3-0 lead after the win in the doubles encounter on Saturday.
- 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
However, the day did not start well for the hosts as the country’s top-ranked player Takanyi Garanganga went down to Bosnia-Herzegovina’s number four ranked player Tomislav Brkic 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 5-7 in a tightly-contested encounter. Zimbabwe will now have a chance to stay in the Euro/Africa Group II when they host Moldovia, during the week July 17-19. Moldovia were trailing Hungary 3-1 late yesterday and Zimbabwe’ non-playing captain Martin Dzuwa believes his charges will be better prepared. “It’s obviously disappointing to have lost 4-1, but I still feel we are a good team. I’ve enjoyed working with these guys. Unfortunately, we could not get the job done in our first tie at home after a long time,” Dzuwa said. “The guys were a bit nervous, having not played at home in such a long time, but I think if we manage to play at home again next time the guys now know what to expect. It was never going to be easy. The Bosnia-Herzegovina players have high rankings than us and now our players need to play in as many tournaments as possible to improve both their game and rakings before July. “I’m confident we will stay up and credit to Tennis Zimbabwe for trying as hard to bring back Davis Cup tennis.”
