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Ellina Mhlanga, Harare Bureau

THE Zimbabwe Davis Cup tennis team was relegated to Africa Group III after suffering a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Uruguay in the World Group II Play-offs that ended yesterday at Harare Sports Club.

Zimbabwe’s Courtney Lock lost the decisive reverse singles match to Ignacio Carou yesterday 3-6, 6-3, 4-6.
Despite the delays due to the rains, it was a tightly-contested tie that had to be decided in the last rubber as the two sides were tied 2-2 after four matches.

Courtney Lock

The match between Lock and Carou was called off twice because of rain, stretching the tie into two extra days.
Going into yesterday’s match, Lock had hoped to continue from where he had left off after making a comeback on Sunday to take the second set 6-3 against Carou. He had lost the first set 3-6 on Saturday before play was called off with the players having won a game apiece.

It was the same scenario on Sunday as play was stopped with the players having secured a game each and when it resumed yesterday, it was an evenly-contested match. The two players had to fight for every game.
Lock managed to break Carou’s serve on the seventh game to take the score to 4-3 but he could not hold on to his serve allowing the latter to come back and they were tied again at 4-4.
Carou kept on pushing, held his serve in the next game to take a 5-4 lead, before breaking Lock’s serve to win the third set.

It was a painful defeat for Lock and the Zimbabwean team after a promising performance that saw the players fighting throughout the tie, and having to deal with the delays as well due to the rains.
“I am heart-broken right now. I think the stage was set… amazing team, amazing support and everyone was with us today, every single point I had the team.

“Benji delivers like always and him and Takanyi (Garanganga), Mehluli (Sibanda) deserved a win today, unfortunately I couldn’t get it done.
“But Benji said to me in the locker room it’s not the end, it’s the start of something and I think I am just going to try and use this to feel me. I think I have never been so broken after a match.

“But I think I am going to take a few days, reset and get back to work and next time I get into this kind of position again, try and get a better result,” said Lock.
Zimbabwe had hoped to cause an upset against Uruguay who were the number one seeds in the Group.
Carou conceded it was a tough tie.

“It was very difficult. A very close tie and I am very happy for myself and for the whole team. And the time we have been here and we were able to take this tie and remain in the Group,” said Carou.
The defeat means Zimbabwe will be playing in the Africa Group III. They will have to fight for promotion back to Group II.

Takanyi Garanganga

Zimbabwe’s captain Takanyi Garanganga said they have to reflect on the outcome of the tie before they shift their focus to talk about Africa Group III.
Benjamin Lock acknowledged the support they got for the past four days with the fans always rallying behind the team.
“I just want to thank everyone who came out for these four long days. It was an amazing environment for all of us to play in, to support and be a part of.”