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Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
It was a tale of mixed fortunes for the Under-18 top seeds at the ongoing New Winners tennis tournament with the boys number one Anesu Kwirirai losing in the semi-finals while in the girls section Rufaro Magarira sailed through to today’s finals at Harare Sports Club.

Magarira had a good day on the court when she beat Charlotte Zhuwakini in the quarter-finals 6-1, 6-0. She went on to dismiss Tsitsi Mahere 6-2, 6-1 in the semi-finals to book a date with second seed Beverly Matsiwe in the final.

Matsiwe overpowered Victoria Sasinka 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 in the other semi-final match. She had earlier on defeated Nandi Munyulwa 6-1, 6-3 in the quarter-finals. Matsiwe admitted it was not an easy task reaching the finals after taking a break to concentrate on her O-Level exams and is hopeful of a positive result today.

“It was tough because I have not been practicing because of school. I had to focus more on school than tennis because I had exams. Obviously I am hoping to win. I will just get more hours of rest today and come early tomorrow go to practice. It’s my first time playing her (Magarira) and I watched her play, it was really good. So it’s going to be a tough match,” said Matsiwe.

For Magarira, the tournament is serving as her last preparatory event for the zonal championships in Botswana next week. While the top seeds in the girls section had a good run yesterday, it was a different script for the boys with number one seed Kwirirai going down to fourth seed Panashe Garah 4-6, 4-6.

Garah will now play third seed Andrew Kunaka, who dismissed Hasley Masara seeded second 6-1, 6-0 in another upset during yesterday’s semi-finals. It promises to be an interesting match with Garah declaring his interests to claim the title.

“Tomorrow it’s going to be really exciting match, I am playing Andrew Kunaka and I have known him since I started playing tennis…I just hope that I will beat him, just play my best tennis and hopefully enjoy the match. To be honest I didn’t think I will go this far, I just thought maybe I was just going to be (in the) quarter-finals but then maybe luck was on my side, I just reached the finals,” said Garah.

In the Under-14 boys semi-finals Benedict Badza beat Strive Bosha 6-1, 6-1 while Takura Mhwandagara prevailed over Kudzai Chirochierwa 6-0, 6-4. Badza and Mhwandagara have a date in the final. The girls’ final will see Tanatswa Musabayeka taking on Tadiwanashe Mauchi.