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Brighton Zhawi
THE Zimbabwe Davis Cup team retained their place in the Europe/Africa Group II after the doubles team of Mark Fynn and Courtney Lock overcame Moldova’s Dmitrii Baskov and Andrei Soultoianu in a relegation play-off tie at Harare Sports Club yesterday.
The Zimbabwe’s duo prevailed 7-5, 5-7, 7-6(6), 6-3 to ensure the team takes an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five match tie which ends today with two dead rubber singles matches.
The hosts head coach Martin Dzuwa was pleased with the team’s efforts.
“It’s a good win, we stay in the group now, we are 3-0 up, the team is happy,” he said.
“(It was) the first time for Court (Courtney Lock) to play in the Davis Cup, they combined not as we expected, but it was okay and we will continue working with the youngster.
“It is a good start and I hope we will continue doing a good job . . . (The remaining matches)are dead rubbers now and we will see who will play tomorrow (today),” Dzuwa said.
Thirty-year-old Fynn and debutant Lock (19) were in a good start, breaking their opponents’ serve at 5-5 to claim the first set 7-5.
But the Europeans fought to restore parity and they took the second set by the same 7-5 margin.
It set up a thrilling third set which saw Zimbabwe recover from 3-5 down to force a tie break which they won 8-6 much to the delight of the vocal home crowd.
Zimbabwe maintained that momentum going into the fourth set forcing seven deuces in game two where they almost broke their opponent’s serve. But Moldova hung on to their serve.
But, there was no stopping Fynn and Lock, who were visibly pumped up by their efforts, to break the Europeans’ serve in game eight to make it 5-3.
And Zimbabwe served for the match and the tie.
That was not a challenge for Fynn who had served brilliantly for the better part of the match.
There were wild cheers and a standing ovation from the crowd as they celebrated a rare victory.
Fynn said: “It was a very exciting match especially the third set where we were 3-5 down and managed to get the break and to win the tie break 8-6 was a huge moment for us.
“The third set definitely changed the momentum of the match,” he said.
His partner was “over the moon” for winning in his first Davis Cup appearance.
Lock said; “It’s an amazing feeling. I was pretty nervous the first few games, obviously it’s my Davis Cup debut.
“We really fought hard, it wasn’t an easy match, but we are really happy to get the win for the country. We have got to thank the crowd, they were amazing,” he said.
Online Reporter
derick.khumalo