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Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE’s tennis siblings, Benjamin and Courtney Lock have had a tough time in North America where they have been participating in Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Challenger Tours in the United States of America (USA) and Canada.
The brothers played at the Calgary Challenger in Canada before making a trip down to the United States in the Champaign-Urbana Challenger. In both tours, the Zimbabweans failed to make it past the round of 32 in singles and doubles events.
In the Calgary men’s singles, Benjamin was eliminated in the round of 32 after losing his match 2-0 against Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic with sets ending with scores of 1-6 and 2-6. Vukic went on to lose the final against Germany’s Dominik Koepfer with scores of 6-2 and 6-4.
In the doubles event, the Zimbabwean siblings were eliminated in the round of 16 by Aziz Dougaz from Turkey and Antoine Escoffier from France. The brothers lost the match with the sets finishing with scores of 4-6, 6-3 and 6-10 to crash out of the tournament.
In the Champaign-Urbana Challenger which ended on Sunday, Benjamin crashed out of the tournament in the round of 32. He lost his match against USA’s Tennys Sandgren with match scores of 3-6, 6-1 and 6-0. His brother Courtney did not participate in the singles event.
In the doubles event, the Zimbabwe duo suffered yet another round of 16 exit in the tournament at the hands of Hans Hach from Mexico and Robert Galloway from USA. The match ended with scores 6-2 and 6-2.
Last month the brothers won silver in Ambato doubles after losing the final. The siblings lost 7-6 and 6-3 against the Argentine pair of Santiago Rodriguez Taverna and Thiago Agustin Tirante to bring home the silver medal after an impressive tournament in Ecuador.
Having not played in the Champaign Challenger singles, Courtney Lock participated in the Temuco Challenger in Chile on Sunday where he won his qualifying round against Victor Nunez from Chile 6-1 and 6-2. Courtney will next face Matias Zukas from Argentina in another qualifying match.
In the doubles section, the Zimbabwean brothers are set to get their campaign up and running against Thiago Augustin Tirante from Argentina and Nicolas Mejía from Colombia. The match is scheduled for later today.
Challenger tours are the second highest tier of tennis competition, behind the ATP Tour. Players who succeed on the ATP Challenger Tour earn sufficient ranking points to become eligible for main draw or qualifying draw entry at ATP Tour tournaments. – @brandon_malvin
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter