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Ellina Mhlanga Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE’S hopes of advancing to the Davis Cup World Group I were dashed when they suffered a 0-4 defeat at the hands of Tunisia over the weekend in Tunis.
The hosts prevailed comfortably in this World Group II knock-outs battle in Tunis.
It proved to be an uphill task for the Zimbabwe team made up of the Lock brothers — Benjamin and Courtney, Mehluli Sibanda and Thabo Ncube. Tunisia advance to the 2022 World Group I Play-offs and Zimbabwe will compete in the World Group II Play-offs.
The team was led by captain Gwinyai Tongoona. “We had a chance to go 1-1 on first day, which would have changed the balance of the tie,’’ said Tongoona.
“Going into doubles, 2-0 down, made it a near impossible task.
“We played on clay and it was tough for our players. Benjamin did extremely well and had match points so, maybe, had he played a couple of tournaments on clay before the tie, it could have been different.
“To get back in Group I is not easy. It’s about the players playing at high levels and winning matches, so there’s work to be done.
“Players need a lot of support and encouragement for this to happen.’’
Zimbabwe went into the tie as the underdogs, ranked 63rd in the world, and were seeking to upset Tunisia, ranked 56th, but the hosts came out with all guns blazing.
Tunisia took a 2-0 lead on Friday, in the opening singles matches, when Malek Jaziri beat Mehluli Sibanda in straight sets 6-0, 6-1.
Aziz Dougaz overpowered Benjamin Lock 2-6, 7-6(6), 7-5 in a tightly contested match that had to be decided in the third set.
The hosts continued with their dominance on Saturday, when the pair of Jaziri and Skander Mansouri prevailed over brothers Benjamin and Courtney 6-3, 6-2, in the doubles.
With the tie already decided as Tunisia were leading 3-0, both teams brought in their youngest players in the reverse singles match, and Tunisia’s Aziz Quakaa beat Ncube 6-4, 6-0 to seal their victory.
“Thabo played very well in his match yesterday. Hopefully, he can keep developing in college and can be a future contributor to the team.
“He had a very good game” said Tongoona.
Tennis Zimbabwe manager, Cliff Nhokwara, said it was a disappointing defeat but will continue pushing for promotion to the next Group in the future.
“It’s a disappointing result but the fight goes on. We were hoping to fight for promotion to World Group I, unfortunately, it didn’t happen.
“We will fight again next year.
“The fight is still on as much, as we have lost the first bout, we will continue fighting.
“So, hopefully, next year, depending on the draw, we will see who we are going to play and we hope we will do well and fight again to get promoted to World Group I,” said Nhokwara.
For now, Zimbabwe’s immediate task is to try and focus on keeping their spot in World Group II when they go to the play-offs.
“Now, we have to fight to remain in Group II, which I hope will happen.
“The next tie is meant to confirm our status in Group II, whether we will remain in Group II or we will be relegated.
“This one we lost, it was meant to go for Group I,” said Nhokwara.
The draw to determine the next matches is expected to take place next week.
Online Reporter