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Ellina Mhlanga Senior Sports Reporter

ZIMBABWE will be seeking better fortunes when they host El Salvador next month in the Davis Cup World Group II tennis play-offs in Harare.

Tennis Zimbabwe have named the Davis Cup team to take on El Salvador on March 4 and 5 at Harare Sports Club.

The team to be led by captain Gwinyai Tongoona is made up of Benjamin Lock, Courtney Lock, Mehluli Sibanda and Ethan Sibanda.

There is only one change to the team with Ethan Sibanda coming in for Thabo Ncube.

Ncube was part of the team that played Tunisia last November in the World Group II knock-outs in Tunis and lost.

Tongoona said they are looking forward to their upcoming assignment.

“We are looking forward to this important tie. The team will come into town and we will go into camp the week of the tie.

“The team has basically stayed the same with Ethan coming into this tie. We only have four players in the team this time and Ethan has been part of the team in the past.

“He contributed well during training and can also potentially play if we need him to. He is young and we hope that his game will continue improving for the future,” said Tongoona.

Zimbabwe’s last tie was last year in November when they lost to Tunisia 4-0 in the World Group II Knock-outs.

On the other hand, El Salvador lost 3-1 to Poland last year in March in the World Group II tie. This is the first time the two countries are meeting.

On paper, Zimbabwe are coming in as the favourites, ranked number 63 while El Salvador are ranked 67. However, in tennis anything can happen and the hosts have to be on top of their game and not underrate their opponents.

“We have more suitable conditions at home this time. It will be a tough tie as always, there are no easy matches in Davis Cup anymore.

“On paper we have the upper hand but we have to see the El Salvador players when they get here. We expect a tough match and will be ready to fight for the win,” said Tongoona.

The trio of Benjamin, Courtney and Mehluli Sibanda have played together in Davis Cup for some time now and Zimbabwe will be banking on that when they go into the play-offs.

Interestingly, it’s a siblings’ affair with the Lock brothers — Benjamin and Courtney — and Sibanda brothers — Mehluli and Ethan — making up the team. The 12 winning nations from the 2022 World Group II play-offs will progress to 2022 World Group II ties. The 12 losing nations will compete in regional Group III events later in 2022. Zimbabwe will be hoping to redeem themselves and overcome the visitors to avoid relegation to the regional Group III.