Harare tennis Open tournament dates set

scheduled to run from April 13 to 17 at Harare Sports Club with participants drawn from across the country taking part.
The national association have also extended an invitation to Kenya who recently hosted the Olympic qualifiers for the London Games to be held from July 27 to August 12.
WTAZ vice president, Olga Chisango, said the development comes after they successfully hosted the two previous editions of the tournament.
“The ITF awarded us the third edition for 2012 after the successful hosting of the tournament in 2010 and 2011.
“We are expecting entries from all our provinces and South Africa-based ace Nyasha Mharakurwa.
“We have also invited the Kenya wheelchair tennis team where our lady’s team was recently hosted and they are yet to confirm,” said Chisango.
Chisango said they were expecting a better and bigger event when the tournament roars into life in Harare.
“We expect a sterling performance from our top players such as Mharakurwa and Samson Muroiwa in the men’s category and in the women’s category we have Molin Muza and Dorcas Hwatira as well as Shepherd Banda and Brian Mafuvise in the juniors category,” said Chisango. Last year the tournament attracted players from Chile and one of them, Robinson Mendez, won the title after beating Zimbabwe’s top player, Nyasha Mharakurwa.
Mharakurwa was the defending champion after he won the inaugural event held in 2010.
However, Mendez will not be able to defend his title this year as he will be competing in another tournament.
“Unfortunately our dates clash with a major tournament in Chile so they have ruled out their chance of attending.
“The level of competition is most certainly set to increase particularly among the women and juniors as they have had players exposed to international competitions,” said Chisango.
The Harare Open tournament was launched in 2010 when the national association was given the greenlight by the ITF to host the event in recognition of the progress that had been made in developing the sport by the local motherbody.
They were given a nod to host the second edition last year after successfully hosting the first tournament.
The WTAZ enjoy a good relationship with the international federation and over the years local players have been invited for international competitions and training programmes in an effort to promote the sport.