Poor start for homeboys in ITF Men’s Futures

Singles, first roundFynn Mark (Zim) bt Olivier Havugimana (Rwa) 6-1 6-2Adamu Sanni (Ngr) bt David Chaplefeh (Ger) 7-4 7-5Hassan Ndayishimiye (Bur) bt Barth George (USA)6-0 7-5Molaoa Refiloe (SA) bt. Hakim Ntwali (Rwa) 6-4 6-4Murali Mithun (Ind) bt. Yu Takahashi (Jpn) 6-0 6-1Nedunchezhiyan Jeevan (Ind) bt. Goyal Medhir (Ind) 6-1 6-0Ahuja Sagar (Ind) bt. Eric Vehovec (Can) 7-6 6-1Henry Atseye (Ngr) bt. Saidi Nkurunziza (Bdi) 6-3 6-3Alexander Lazov bt. James Allemby (Gbr) 6-0 6-1With the absence of top seeds, upcoming local tennis players are struggling to emulate their brothers after they launched a poor start to the ITF Men’s futures (Rwanda F1 Futures) which is underway at Umubano courts in Kigali. Jean Claude Gasigwa and Dieudonne Habiyambere all pulled out of the tournament with shoulder and ankle injuries.Their absence earned automatic slots for Hakim Ntwali, Anatole Bizimana, Olivier Havugimana and Mathieu Uwizeyimana.After qualifying through the qualifying rounds, Ntwali failed to live up to the expectations of progressing to the second round as he was sent packing by South African Molaoa Refiloe with an easy 6-4 6-4 win in straight sets.Havugimana, who participated in the tournament on a wildcard, lost to Fynn Mark of Zimbabwe 6-1 6-2 in straight sets.The other Rwandan pair of Uwizeyimana and Bizimana was due to play their first round matches last evening. Bizimana was expected to face Yannick Mertens of Belgium, who is ranked 347 on ATP rankings, while Uwizeyimana was billed to face Jannis Liniger from Switzerland, who is ranked 1996 on ATP rankings.Ugandan David Oringa was also expected to play against Aymar Hugor Biyamba of Gabon yesterday.Meanwhile, Burundian Hassan Ndayishimiye marched into the second round after dismissing American Barth George 6-0 7-5 in straight sets.In other matches played on Monday, Adamu Sanni of Nigeriab defeated David Chaplefeh of Germany 7-4 7-5, while Indian Murali Mithun (Ind) beat Japanese Yu Takahashi 6-0 6-1.Indian Nedunchezhiyan Jeevan easily dispatched compatriot Goyal Medhir 6-1 6-0; Ahuja Sagar of India marched into the second round with a 7-6 6-1 win over Canadian Eric Vehovec.Nigeria’s Henry Atseye beat Burundian Saidi Nkurunziza 6-3, 6-3 and Bulgaria’s Alexander Lazov also reached the second round with a 6-0, 6-1 win over James Allemby of Great Britain. The tournament attracted 50 international foreign players with Australia’s Melzer Gerard being the highest ranked player on the ATP rankings.India’s Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (323) and Belgian Yannick Mertens (345) are the other players in the top 600. Burundian Hassan Ndayishimiye (886) is the only player from East and Central African ranked in the top 1000. On top of garnering ATP points, winners of the week-long tournament share US$10,000 in cash prizes.

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Poor start for homeboys in ITF Men’s Futures