Benjamin Lock wins ITF Tennis Tour Player of the Month

ZIMBABWE tennis ace, Benjamin Lock has continued flying the country’s flag up high on the international stage, winning the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Tennis Tour Player of the Month for May.

The prestigious award comes after a record-breaking month when the 30-year-old won back-to-back professional singles tournaments for the first time. In the process, Lock also leapfrogged Takanyi Garanganga to hold the record of the most singles titles by a Zimbabwean.

Lock now has 10 while Garanganga has nine.
The back-to-back titles that saw Lock gain world recognition were held in Ethiopia last week and were the first professional events to be held in the country.

This was Lock’s first professional singles title in over a year, having fallen short in various competitions throughout the year. He now has 10 singles titles to his name.

To top off the prestigious award, Lock is also projected to rise to a career-high world ranking of 348. He took over the player of the month reins from 16-year-old Russian, Mirra Andreeva who had won the April accolade.

In the Addis Ababa Challenger in Ethiopia, the Zimbabwean ace won 10 matches in a row, dropping just a solitary set in the process. Lock edged 21-year-old Eric Vanshelboim from Ukraine two-love to win the first leg of the Tour. He won the final with set scores of 7-5 and 6-2 and the tournament was also played on a clay surface like the second one.

In the first leg’s semi-final, he beat Alec Beckley from South Africa 2-0 with set scores of 6-2 and 6-2.
In last Sunday’s second leg final, Lock registered another two-love win over Rishab Agarwal. Lock won the final with set scores of 6-2 and 6-2 to fly the Zimbabwean flag up high. In the first set, Lock controlled most of the proceedings despite losing the first game.

The Zimbabwean ace levelled things up to make it 1-1 before going on to win the next four games, leaving the set at 5-1. Agarwal brought one back, making it 5-2 but the inform Zimbabwean ace did not hold back on the clay surface and went on to win another game, making it 6-2, thus taking a 1-0 lead in the match.

In the second set, Lock won a closely contested tie after taking a 2-0 lead in the first two games. Agarwal fought back in the third game to make it 2-1 before Lock restored his two-game deficit, making it 3-1 in the fourth game.

In the last three games, the 27-year-old Indian pulled one back to leave the scores at 3-2, but Lock went on to win the other two games, making it 6-2 again and winning the match 2-0, to complete a double.

The back-to-back singles triumph in Ethiopia and the player of the month accolade sum up the brilliant work that Lock, who is believed to be a doubles specialist, has been putting on his singles game.
Challenger Tours, which have given the Zimbabwean international recognition are administered by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).

The events are the second highest tier of tennis competition behind the ATP Tour. Players who perform well on the ATP Challenger Tours earn sufficient ranking points to become eligible for main draw or qualifying draw entry at ATP Tour tournaments.
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