Day 3

Singles

M. Matwe (NED) 6-0, 6-1 M. Bizimana (RWA)

B. Mathew (GBR) 0-6, 1-6 M. Matwe (NED)

Doubles

J. Gasigwa/D. Habiyambere (RWA) 5-7, 5-7 G. De Sousa/M.

Frederico (FRA/POR)

Rwanda has recorded her worst ever performance in this year’s ITF Men’s Futures tournament that swings into Day four at Novotel today.

Having hit the exit in the singles category on Monday (Day one), the country’s horrific run continued in the doubles when Jean Claude Gasigwa and Dieudonne Habiyambere lost 5-7, 5-7 against Gilles De Sousa (France) and Marques Frederico (Portugal).

The result came as a shock to many local fans after the pair’s perfect start, which saw them take a commanding lead in both sets before stumbling at critical moments.

Seemingly cruising to a fine and much needed win at 5-2 in the first set, the Rwandan pair lost ground with some sloppy serves to allow their opponents back into the contest.

The opponents took full advantage of the local boys’ back to back unforced errors, rose from three points down to level 5-5 apiece before finally cruising to a 7-5 victory.

Gilles and Frederico kept their nerve to register a similar score in the second set to guarantee themselves a slot in the second round of the doubles’ category.

"This performance is proof that our boys are not used to such competitions.

They thought it was over before it actually was and paid dearly for it.

"They need a lot of exposure to be able to compete at this level,” Rwanda Tennis Federation’s technical director Thierry Ntwali disappointedly said.

Meanwhile, the tournament’s top seed Middelkoop Matwe has now added two more ATP points to his name after effortless wins over Rwanda’s Mele Bizimana and Great Britain’s Bright Mathew.

The Dutch youngster started his fine run on Tuesday with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Bizimana in just over 40 minutes before topping it up with yet another emphatic 6-0, 6-1 win over Mathew, a game that lasted 51 minutes.

The tournament which has been heavily bankrolled by the sports ministry, Heineken, Sulfo Rwanda and Banque de Kigali (BK) climaxes on Saturday with $1500 at stake for the over-all winner.

Ends