Rwanda off to a faltering start in Davis Cup

Rwanda men’s tennis team got off to a disappointing start in the Davis Cup BNP Paribas Africa Zone Group III competition in Cairo with a 3-0 loss to Namibia on Wednesday.

Friday, May 17, 2013
Rwanda's seed two Dieudonne Habiyambere was beaten straight sets 6-3, 6-3 by Namibia's Henco Serdyn on Day One. The New Times / File.

Rwanda men’s tennis team got off to a disappointing start in the Davis Cup BNP Paribas Africa Zone Group III competition in Cairo with a 3-0 loss to Namibia on Wednesday.The country’s top two players Jean Claude Gasigwa and Dieudonne Habiyambere lost their opening single and double matches to Namibia’s Henco Serdyn and Tuki Jacobs respectively. Serdyn beat Habiyambere 6-3, 6-3, while Gasigwa lost to Jacobs 1-6, 3-6.Jacobs and Serdyn were pushed all the way before sealing the whitewash following a thrilling doubles rubber which lasted 2 hours 45 minutes against Gasigwa and Habiyambere to win 5-7, 6-4, 6-1.Rwanda faces seed three Madagascar on Friday but must win  both the singles and doubles rubber to stay in the race to secure promotion to Group II. The three seeded nations, Egypt, Morocco and Zimbabwe all recorded comfortable 3-0 victories on Wednesday. Egypt overcame Zambia, winning all three of their rubbers in under an hour.Morocco also eased through their opening tie when they defeated Algeria without dropping more than two games in any set.Zimbabwe did not drop a set either, comfortably defeating Kenya. The tie between Nigeria and Botswana was the only one of the day not to finish 3-0.Nigeria easily took the opening rubber in just 40 minutes, but Botswana fought back, taking the second in three sets. This forced a deciding doubles rubber and Nigeria narrowly edged it to win 2-1.