Rwanda’s Ernest Habiyambere was made to wait for the third set to beat Chris Lukanu Andre 7-6⁴ 4-6 6-3 and secure victory for the hosts over Group B rivals Angola on Thursday, July 27 at Kigali Ecology Tennis Club.

Lukanu looked so sharp and ready for a Habiyambere’s test to avenge for his teammate Zidario Quitamino who had fallen to a 5-7 1-6 defeat to Junior Hakizumwami in the first game.

The German who chose to represent Angola at the Davis Cup, lost the first set 6⁴-7 but he bounced back to take the second 6-4 and force the game to the third set.

But resilient Habiyambere put second set frustrations aside to win the decisive third 6-3 and help Rwanda bag the second win to keep their chances of winning Group III promotion alive.

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But Lukanu returned to the clay court with his teammate Fernando Andre to win a consolation game in the doubles category after beating Rwandan duo Etienne Niyigena and Joshua Muhire 7-6 6-3.

Despite losing the doubles, Rwanda qualified to play a promotion final game before they even play Nigeria in Game 3 of Group B on Friday, July 28.

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Nigerian also won their second Group B game beating Mozambique, both in singles and doubles, on Thursday.

Nigeria’s David Ekpenyong beat Mozambican Jaime Sigauque 2-0 (6-0 6-1) before his compatriot Christopher Bulus eased past Luca Figueiredo with a 6-0 6-0 victory.

Elsewhere in Group A, Kenyans Kael Shalin Shah and Ismael Mzai beat Botswana’s Esi Molefe and Mark Nawa 2-0 6-0 6-1 and 6-1 6-0) respectively.

A total of eight teams from different parts of Africa namely Angola, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Botswana, Mozambique, Cameroon and hosts Rwanda are taking part in the tournament.

The teams that finish on top of each of the two groups will play the second team in A and B respectively and the winners will earn the qualification to Davis Cup Africa Group III in 2024.

Meanwhile, third placed teams will face bottom placed teams where the losers will be relegated to Group V.