The Chronicle
Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE tennis star, Benjamin Lock has so far been in good form in Mexico where he is participating in the Leon Challenger.
28-year-old Lock booked his place in the quarter-finals of the championship after edging Denis Yevseyev from Kazakhstan 2-0 in their encounter played on Tuesday night on the hard court.
Lock, who represented Zimbabwe in their Davis Cup defeat at the hands of Uruguay in February in Harare, won the game with identical scores of 7-5 in the two sets played to progress to the next stage.
In the last eight, Lock will play against Australia’s James Duckworth in what promises to be an interesting game of tennis.
His impressive run in the North American nation began with a 2-1 win over Beibit Zhukayev from Kazakhstan on Monday when he came from behind to win.
He lost the first set 6-3 before going on to win the next two, 7-6 and 6-4. On that same day, the Zimbabwean ace went on to beat Britain’s Aidan McHugh with a similar scoreline coming from behind once again.
He went down 6-4 in the first set before going on to win 7-6 and 6-4 to progress to the next stage.
On Sunday, the Zimbabwean international was eliminated from the San Luis Potosi doubles in Mexico as well after a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Colin Sinclair from Northern Mariana Islands and Adam Walton from Australia. Lock’s partner was Jose Rubin Statham from New Zealand.
Benjamin LockLock and his partner won their first set 7-5 before going on to lose the last two 6-3 and 10-5 to bow out of the doubles event.
The tournament is part of the Challenger tours which are administered by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). The events are the second highest tier of tennis competition, behind the ATP Tour.
Players who succeed on the ATP Challenger Tour earn sufficient ranking points to become eligible for main draw or qualifying draw entry at ATP Tour tournaments.
At the time of going to print, Lock’s last eight match against Duckworth was still on. — @brandon_malvin
