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AERODYNAMICS . . . Takanyi Garanganga makes a return of serve during his match against Bosnia-Herzogovina’s Number Two player Mirza Basic at Harare Sports Club yesterday — Picture: Inn0cent Makawa

Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE will have to move mountains to salvage their Davis Cup Euro/Africa Group II tennis tie against Bosnia-Herzegovina after the hosts lost the opening two singles matches at Harare Sports Club yesterday.

The visitors took a giant step towards winning the encounter when they raced into a 2-0 lead after their Number Two player Mirza Basic and top player Damir Dzumur upstaged the pair of Takanyi Garanganga and Benjmain Lock respectively.

Zimbabwe now desperately need to win today’s doubles match in which the returning veteran Wayne Black teams up with Mark Fynn against the pair of Mirza Basic and Tomislav Brkic.

Garanganga, who is ranked 324 in the world had a bad day on court with his serve being his biggest let down during the match, which he lost 3-6, 3-6, 6-7 (6) to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s number two player, Basic rated 199.

The match lasted 2hours 20minutes.

Garanganga could not hold his serve as he struggled throughout the match and his return was also not that good.

The 24-year-old yesterday admitted that it was not a good day for him in the office, but said he will not let it affect him ahead of tomorrow’s singles reverse match against the visitor’s number one player Dzumhur.

“I haven’t been playing very well these past couple of days so I just tried to squeeze in whatever I got out there. The ball was moving too fast for me and I don’t think I had fully acclimatised to it but that’s part of it. The other guys have to deal with that too but I didn’t manage it so well, I couldn’t keep more than three balls on the court, so that just makes tennis a lot difficult.

“Confidence it’s something that’s on and off in everything but you just got to stick with the foundation and the principles and you got to go back to that . . . you have got to have a good base of what you are trying to do.

“As long as that is still structured in my mindset I don’t think the confidence going up and down is a problem. I might feel a little bit low but that’s part of an athlete, it happens to everybody, the best athletes have that, so it’s not a problem,” said Garanganga.

The third set had to be decided in a tie break and Garanganga could have turned the tables but again his serve didn’t help the situation.

“I just messed up one of my service games. I just kind of had to reflect on that and I wasn’t serving well throughout the whole match and some points that werekey,” said Garanganga.

In the second match of the day, Zimbabwe’s Lock ranked 1 205 had some good moments on the court but could not match his opponent, Dzumhur ranked 89 in the world. Lock lost 3-6, 6-7 (7-1), 3-6 to Dzumhur.

The Zimbabwean second best player played some good tennis especially in the second set and at one point it seemed like he was going to take the second set leading 6-5 but Dzumhur made a comeback and the set had to go for a tie break.

Dzumhur said it was a hard fought victory as Lock pulled some surprises during the match and it took 2hours 19 minutes to win the match.

“It was definitely a tough match, Benjamin played a real good match I think if he is going to play like this he is going to be a good player.

“Also the conditions were a bit tough, windy and hot weather today. Hot for Europeans because we are coming from winter and I definitely had to play really good to win this match.

“I did it in three sets that’s the most important thing that we didn’t go for five sets. I didn’t get so much tired after this match but I had to play really good especially the second set where Benjamin played some unbelievable games. I managed to find my game in the tie break to win the second set and then it was much easier in the third set,” said Dzumhur.

Zimbabwe will be hoping to win today’s doubles match if they are entertaining any hopes of making a comeback in this tie.

Fynn, who is partnering Black in the doubles today, said he knows the importance of the match and is looking forward to the challenge.

“Tomorrow’s game obviously is a must win match for us but the doubles was always going to be an important match anyway. We have been training hard for this week, so we are just looking forward to it.

“It was good tennis today (yesterday). I know we lost both of them but if a few points had gone our way instead of theirs the matches could have been very different. It’s not like the Bosnian team is a huge level above us, we are at their level, we just need to execute and hopefully come through the match.

“I am just looking forward to tomorrow. I am excited for tomorrow, to play doubles with someone like Wayne is going to be an unbelievable experience with all that he has achieved. So it’s just going to be a great day I am really looking forward to it,” said Fynn.

Bosnia and Herzegovina non-playing captain, Amer Delic said their victory yesterday took off some pressure on his side going into today’s match.

“It was good I think the first match kind of set the tone. Mirza Basic our number two player was able to prevail against Takanyi.

“I think Takanyi is in a tough situation, this is his first time playing at home and there is a lot of pressure on him being the number one player and it showed a little bit at the beginning. Mirza was able to use his experience to get through the match.

“Second was Damir, he is having his best ranking now and he is playing some of the best tennis so in critical moments he was able to come and run down some balls and hit some better shots and that’s just experience.

“So, it’s good we are up 2-0 and obviously tomorrow it’s going to be a challenge. Doubles are very critical obviously we know that Zimbabwe is going to give their all because they have to but it’s a little bit less pressure on us. I think we can swing a little bit more freely tomorrow and hopefully we are going to win,” said Delic

The reverse singles will be played tomorrow with Garanganga playing Dzumhur while Lock takes on Basic.