Botswana had the best possible start to Davis Cup Africa Division V qualifiers after they swept past Libya 3-0 at the National Tennis Centre on Wednesday.
Last year, Botswana came agonisingly close to gaining promotion to Division IV but narrowly lost to Gabon in a final that will be best remembered for an epic encounter between local, Denzel Seetso and his gangly Gabonese counterpart, Herve Antchandie. Seetso was on the verge of sending Botswana through to the next stage, when Antchandie staged one of the most dramatic comebacks, recovering from 5-0 down to wrap up the set 7-5. This year, Botswana has once again, been given the right to host the Division V qualifiers and the tournament's top two sides will gain promotion to Division IV. On Wednesday, the quartet of Seetso, Ntungamili Raguin, Mark Nawa, and Tsholofelo Tsiang gave the hosts the perfect platform in Group C with Libya suffering utter defeat. Raguin got the ball rolling with a comfortable 6-2, 6-0 win over Ibrahim Shtiwe, whilst top-seeded Seetso dispatched Ahmed Mouhan 6-2, 6-3. Nawa and Tsiang teamed up in the dead rubber doubles match and prevailed 6-4, 6-3 Mouhan and Safwan El Zeyadi. Botswana is in Group C, with Ethiopia, Libya and Congo, who were in Gaborone last year and avoided relegation through a play-off win.
Ethiopia top the group after a 3-0 win over Congo. Out of the four pools, the top four teams progress to the next round, with the two that emerge victorious in the semi-final, gaining promotion to Division IV. Last year, Ethiopia finished seventh whilst Libya finished bottom of last year's Pool C. This leaves Botswana as clear favourites to progress to the last four and have a sniff at promotion. Today at 9:30am, Botswana face Congo, and a win will see the team take a giant step towards the promotion play-off, ahead of their final match against Ethiopia tomorrow.
