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Gwinyai Tongoona

Sports Reporter

ZIMBABWE’S players at the ongoing 40th ITF/CAT African Junior Closed Championships met with mixed fortunes yesterday in the opening matches in Tunis, Tunisia.The tournament, which started on Monday, runs until Saturday and Zimbabwe is fielding two boys and three girls. In the boys section Dennis Moses beat Ahmed Mouhan from Libya 6-1, 0-6, 7-6 to progress to the second round.

He will be joined by Kimberly Bhunu and Sasha Taruberekera, who also had a good day on the court winning their girls singles matches.

Bhunu beat Nesrine Troubia from Algeria in straight sets 6-1, 6-1 while Taruberekera sailed through when she overpowered Tunisia’s Mayssa Tebourbi 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

But it was a different case for Danai Chinamo as she went down 1-6, 1-6 to Habiba Khaled Aly of Egypt. In the doubles matches Bhunu and Taruberekera found the going tough when they were defeated 4-6, 2-6 by the pair of Sada Nahimana and Aisha Nyonkuru, who are the top seeds.

Zimbabwe’s top player Mehluli Sibanda had a bye yesterday.

He is seeded eighth in the tournament and will be out hoping for a good start today.

Speaking from Tunisia, coach Gwinyai Tongoona applauded the young players for their efforts and expressed optimism ahead of today’s matches.

“Very good effort and fighting spirit from everyone in very tough, windy, cold weather. Mehluli Sibanda is seeded and plays tomorrow (today) as everyone else who won today.

“Matches get tougher every day, so they have to fight hard to get through to the next round. Everyone, however, has a chance to get through,” said Tongoona.

The five players qualified for the championships based on their rankings and the limelight will be on Sibanda today. H

e was part of the Davis Cup team last year and represented the country at the African Union Sports Council Region Five Under-20 Youth Games in Angola.