Online Reporter
Tinashe Kusema
Zimpapers Sports Hub
IT was just a word but it carried a lot of meaning.
Zimbabwe’s Davis Cup tennis team top seed, Courtney Lock, punched the air and yelled out an emphatic “yeah” as he wrapped up victory.
He powered to a 6-3, 6-2 win over Arnold Ikondo Moke of the Democratic Republic of Congo in an Africa Group IV match at the Nairobi Club in Kenya yesterday.
The result wrapped up the tie for Zimbabwe as they took an unassailable 2-0 lead after Ronan Mtisi had earlier on beat DRC’s Isaac Bokungu 6-2, 6-3.
Unfortunately, the Zimbabwe duo of Zamani Moyo and Makanaka Whata failed to replicate their singles’ stars as they went down to the Congolese pairing of Bokungu and Moise Kumase 6-4, 2-6, 2-6.
This gave the Zimbabwe Davis Cup the 2-1 win and kept them in the running for a play-off place tomorrow.
The team round off their group stages with a tie against Angola today.
They are targeting a return to the Davis Cup Africa Group III.
Eight nations are currently in Kenya as they fight it out for promotion.
The eight are Ghana, Algeria, Zimbabwe Mozambique, Angola, Botswana, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The top two nations from each pool advance to the promotion play-offs for the two slots to next year’s Davis Cup Africa Group III.
Pool A consists of Ghana, Algeria, Kenya and Botswana while Pool B consists of Mozambique, DR Congo, Angola and Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe have had two victories over Mozambique (3-0) and the DRC.
Zimbabwe were demoted to the Africa Group IV after crumbling to four straight defeats against Senegal, Algeria, Nigeria and Namibia during the five-nation Africa Group III tournament last year.
The event was held at Harare Sports Club and Courtney is one of two survivors from that tournament alongside Mtisi.
While his singles match yesterday’s against Moke was pretty much a one-sided affair, Lock played the match with a lot of emotion.
It is this emotion that pretty much summarises the current state of Zimbabwe tennis.
The tie itself did not get off to the best of starts for the Zimbabwean as Lock and Moke exchanged breaks during the first two matches.
After he regrouped, the 29-year-old Zimbabwe top seed totally dominated his opponents winning a collecting 65 points as compared to Bokungu’s 48.
He made just three aces while operating at 78 percent on first serve and 77 percent on the second.
Lock successfully converted four out of a possible six break points during his win over the DR Congo player, with the match lasting one hour and 47 minutes.
The doubles match remains the only blemish from an otherwise good day in the office for Gwinyai Tongoona’s charges.
