Egypt ends Botswana�s tennis medal hopes
Thato Kala | Friday May 30, 2014 10:51
The Egyptians had an easy first set, quickly dismissing the hosts who came back stronger in the second set with Tidimane doing extremely well. Botswana took a 4-1 lead midway through the second set, raising the home crowd’s hopes of a semi-final berth. As the game progressed, the Egyptians shifted gears and took advantage of Mogopodi’s edginess.
“I really do not know what was happening today, we could have won the second set,” Mogopodi told Mmegi Sport. Egypt clawed back after an edgy Mogopodi dropped four successive serves. The Egyptians managed to draw level as Botswana continued to struggle with serves. The Egyptians then won the next set to regain control. They finished off the hosts after Tidimane failed to return an easy ball. Earlier, Tidimane and Emmanuel Mabhechu lost 6-3, 6-2 to Mauritians Amine Ahouda and Mustapha Belcora in the boys’ doubles quarterfinals. The two went down fighting but were letdown by poor co-ordination and communication. They made a lot of mistakes with easy balls and let the Mauritians come at them.
“We were not bad. I think I personally lacked my confidence in the last three games,” Mabhechu said.
The experienced Tidimane did well but his teammate displayed signs of stage fright. He never played his usual aggressive game. Zimbabwe suffered heartbreak when boys’ medal hopeful, Courtney Lock narrowly lost to Egyptian El-Sallaly 7-5, 7-6 in an exciting game.
Lock got consolation when he won his doubles match. “It was quite a close game that I lost in the singles, I could have won the match,” Lock said.
Zimbabwe’s Nicole Dzenga made it beyond the second round after beating South Africa’s Sarah Sarjoo 6-4, 6-0 in the girls’ singles. The farthest hosts Botswana went in the singles was the second round. Keamogetse Kesetselemang lost 6-0, 6-0 to South Africa’s Janet Koch in the girls’ singles.