adminEllina Mhlanga Harare Bureau
ZIMBABWE’S campaign to remain in the Davis Cup Europe/Africa Group II went up in smoke yesterday when they lost 2-3 to Georgia in a relegation play-off tie at Mziuri Tennis Sports Club in Tbilisi. Despite putting up a spirited fight in the first two days of the tie the tourists failed to hold on to their lead losing both reverse singles matches. A win in the doubles on Saturday when the Lock brothers Benjamin and Courtney combined for their victory had given Zimbabwe a 2-1 advantage going into yesterday’s matches.
But Georgia proved to be too good as they fought back to win both reverse matches to seal the tie 3-2. The defeat means Zimbabwe will now return to the less fashionable Africa Zone Group III where they will have to fight for promotion back into Group II.
The three-day competition started on Friday with both countries needing a win to retain their spot in the Group. Zimbabwe’s team was made up of non-playing captain, Martin Dzuwa, the Lock brothers – Benjamin and Courtney – Mark Fynn and Mehluli Sibanda, who was making his debut appearance.
Dzuwa said his charges put up a good performance although they lost and added that he is confident they will return to Group II soon. “Everybody put maximum effort into the matches. I am happy with the effort that everyone put into this tie and everything went as planned, it’s just unfortunate we lost. I expected more today (yesterday).
“We will be back. I think we belong to Group II, not Group III. And this year we were away in both ties,” said Dzuwa. After taking a 2-1 lead on Saturday, Zimbabwe needed to win one of the reverse singles matches yesterday. But both Benjamin and Mark Fynn found the going tough and lost.
Benjamin lost 3-6, 4-6, 2-6 to Georgia’s number one player Nikoloz Basilashvili while Fynn went down to George Tsivadze 3-6, 5-7, 3-6. On Saturday, Benjamin and Courtney had beaten the pair of Basilashvili and Nodar Itonishvili 3-6, 3-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-4.
However, their efforts were not enough to secure their place in the Group with Georgia turning the tables yesterday.
Blessing Chizhande