Young Rwandan tennis talents faced a tough reality at the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors/Grade 4 tournament, with the last four athletes bowing out on day 2, ending the nation’s hopes at the competition. ALSO READ: Tennis: Rwandan juniors endure tough opening day at ITF tourney The tournament, reserved for players under 18, runs from August 12 to 24, with matches scheduled across two weeks—August 12-17 and August 19-24. Rwanda had ten participants in total—eight boys and two girls. Six Rwandan players, who competed on the opening day (Monday), failed to advance past the first preliminary round after losing to their foreign opponents. On Tuesday the ordeal continued as Brian Karenzi was defeated by Canada’s Jay Lin Gibson 6-1, 6-2; while Claude Ishimwe lost 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-2 to Portugal’s Waktor Jaz, and Emmanuel Minishimwe got outplayed by Burundi’s Allan Gatoto 6-0, 6-1. In the girls' category, Rwanda’s King Onyx Umuhoza fell to China’s Zhan Hang 6-3, 6-0. In doubles, the Rwandan girls' duo of Melissa Bimenyimana and Ineza was narrowly beaten 5-4, 5-7 (10-7) by Burundi’s Meira Ndayizeye and Kendra Ingabire. In the men’s doubles, Karenzi teamed up with Belgium’s Clement Wauters to defeat Rwandans Gedeon Murinzi and Edson Nshimiyimana 6-1, 6-3. The ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors/Grade 4 tournament allows young players to earn points toward their professional rankings. The winner receives 60 points, the runner-up earns 36 points, semifinalists get 18 points, quarterfinalists earn 10 points, and players reaching the round of 16 gain five points.
