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TOP Zimbabwe tennis star Courtney Lock and his doubles partner Niki Poonacha lost in the Delhi Open 6-4, 6-3 on Saturday.
They lost to the duo of Mamichi Imamura and Rio Naguchi in the final.
Courtney and Poonacha were pairing for the first time.
The Zimbabwe doubles specialist had made it to the last four in a three-set thriller 6-3, 2-6 and 10-5 after beating Japan’s Shintaro Mochizuki and Kaito Uesugi in the quarter-finals at the DLTA Complex, in Delhi.
In the semi-finals, they beat Great Britain’s Jay Clarke and Johannes Ingildsen of Denmark who went into the event as third seeds.
“Thank you to my partner Niki for our first tournament together, felt at home this week with all the support. Special week having her excellency, the Zimbabwean Ambassador to India, and the delegation present at the ceremony,” said Lock on his X account.
Ambassador to India, Stella Nkomo was at the final.
For their effort Lock and Poonacha pocketed US$2 880. Lock went into the event ranked 195th in the world with 185 as of November last year, being his career best.
Final match statistics
Imamura/Naguchi C Lock/Poonacha
0 Aces 0
1 Double faults 5
75% First serve % 73%
72% Win % on 1st serve 53%
55% Win % on 2nd serve 50%
5/7
Break points
2/3
0 Tiebreaks won 0
29 Receiving points won 16
61 Points won 42
12 Games won 7
4 Max games won in a row 2
9 Max points won in a row 4
32 Service points won 26
7 Service games won 5.
Online Reporter