Veteran Serge Kayitare comfortably beat Christian Kaningu two sets to nil (6-2, 6-1) in Sunday’s men’s singles final to win the fifth edition of the Rubavu Tennis Tournament.  

The tournament was organised by Nyarutarama Tennis Club, as part of re-launching Tennis activities after more than two years of forced suspension due to Covid-19 pandemic and also as an occasion for the Tennis Club members to socialize, network and keep themselves healthy through Tennis.

This year’s tournament attracted 40 adult amateur players from different clubs from Nyarutarama, Cercle Sportif de Kigali and Kanombe Tennis Club among others.

The players participated in two categories which were the men’s singles and men’s doubles.

Kayitare and Kaningu were initially touted by many as favorites for the men's singles tournament before it opened Saturday at Kivu Lake Serena Hotel Tennis court.

Kayitare beat Emmanuel Rukundo 9-8 in Saturday’s first semi-final while his opponent Kaningu had an afternoon to remember after overcoming Theoneste Bahati with 9-8 win in a hard-fought second semi-final tie.

The finalists in both men’s singles and doubles categories demanded the final fixtures, which were scheduled to take place on Saturday, to be postponed to Sunday after the players raised concerns of fatigue which could have affected their performance in the final.

A fit again Kayitare returned to the Lake Kivu Serena Hotel Tennis Courts stronger and imposed a powerful game against his opponent Kaningu who looked late to get into the game.

Kayitare put up an impressive performance in the first set which he won by 6-2 and hardly gave Kaningu a single minute response by winning the second set at 6-1 in arguably the most entertaining fixtures of the tournament.

In the men's doubles final, Emmanuel Rukundo and Sabin Ineza beat Theoneste Bahati and Alain King 6-0, 6-4 to end the tennis tournament campaign unbeaten.

The winners were awarded with trophies in addition to a free night out package, including meals and accommodation provided by Lake Kivu Serena Hotel.

Damien Emile Ngabonziza, the President of Nyarutarama Tennis Club told Times Sport that they plan to invite more adult Tennis players for the tournament in future editions as well as extend it to professionals as well.

"The purpose of this tournament has for the past five editions been to bring the Tennis Club members together to socialize, network and keep themselves healthy through Tennis. We look forward to seeing our colleagues from Goma and other countries join us in the future,” Ngabonziza said in an interview.