ZIMBABWE tennis ace Benjamin Lock clinched his maiden ITF Futures singles title after recording a straight sets victory over American teenager William Bushamuka in the final of the Standard Bank Mozambique Open in Maputo on Sunday.
BY DANIEL NHAKANISO
Lock, who had knocked out some big names en-route to the final, overcame the unseeded Bushamuka 6-4, 6-4 for his first singles tour win as the Standard Bank Mozambique was part of the ITF Men’s Futures Circuit.
Until Sunday’s win Lock’s only win on the ITF Futures Circuit had come in the doubles category when he teamed up with American player Jean-Yves Aubone at the Bluewater Bay Pro Circuit Championship in Niceville, Florida six months ago.
However, the 22-year-old rising star, who recently completed a stellar season in the US finally, got the monkey off his back in the singles with a convincing display in Maputo.
Unseeded at the start of the $10 000 tournament, Lock got his campaign off to a solid start with a 6-3, 6-2 straight sets win over the eighth seeded Argentinian Matias Castro in the opening round.
In the second round, the Florida State University number one player rebounded from a set down to knock out Great Britain’s Curtis Clarke 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 in a tightly contested encounter.
Lock’s biggest win of the tournament would, however, come in the quarter-finals where he beat the top seeded Portuguese player Frederico Ferreira Silva, who is ranked, 265th in the world 6-2, 7-5 in straight sets.
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In the semi-finals, Lock, who has a current singles world ranking of 1218 comfortably, beat the fourth seed Matias Franco Descotte from Argentina, 6-4, 6-3 to march into the final.
The former Pretoria Boys High student also enjoyed a commendable run in the doubles with his young brother Courtney before coming short in the quarterfinals after a 6-4, 2-6 (10-7) defeat to the pair of South Africa’s Trent Botha (RSA) and David Forchap from Germany.
Lock’s recent brilliant run of form should come as a huge boost to local tennis ahead of Zimbabwe’s relegation playoff match against Moldova in the capital during the weekend of July 17-19.
Zimbabwe needs a win against Moldova for them to remain in Group II after they lost 1-4 to Bosnia/Herzegovina in March in what was their first Davis Cup home tie in nine years.
Lock will be one of the key players in the Zimbabwe side together with US-based Takanyi Garanganga, who has also been enjoying some good run of form on the European circuit.
The 24-year-old Mbare-born ace last week reached the quarterfinals of the Italy F12 Futures in Lodi, Italy after another solid run in Portugal where he reached the semifinals at the Portugal F6 Futures.
