Lock Zim’s big medal hope at tennis champs

Championships after winning the boys’ 18-and-under warm-up tournament over the weekend in Gaborone, Botswana.
Lock raised the country’s flag high when he was crowned champion in the International Junior Championships of Botswana, which gave the players the opportunity to acclimatise for the flagship event of African Junior Tennis that started on Monday.
The 18-year-old received a bye in the first round of the main event.
Lock, who is based at the ITF development centre in South Africa, reached the final in the boys’ 18-and-under without dropping a set and went on to beat Wayne Montgomery of South Africa 6-2, 6-4 in the finals to clinch the title. Lock enters the African Junior Championships as the favourite to win the title after a good show in the warm-up event and is the only Zimbabwean player who reached the finals in the warm-up competition.
In the girls’ category the title went to Zarah Razafimahatratra of Madagascar who beat Nour Abbes of Tunisia 6-2, 6-2 in the finals.
Mehdi Abid of Tunisia was crowned champion in the boys’ 16-and-under category after he overpowered Theo Ferreira of South Africa 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 while Intissar Rassif of Mauritius defeated Linique Theron of Namibia 6-2, 6-2 in the final.
For the boys’ 14-and-under, the event was an all-South African affair with Michiel Van Schoor overpowering Lloyd Harris 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 to claim the title. Egypt’s Sandra Salam won the title in the girls’ category after outclassing Sedi Jacobs of Namibia 6-0, 6-1.
Meanwhile Tadiwa Chinamo won his opening match in the boys’ 14-and-under on Monday when he beat eighth seed Joseph Imeh of Nigeria 6-4, 6-2.