TENNIS: Garanganga shines

14 Dec, 2014 - 00:12 0 Views
TENNIS: Garanganga shines

The Sunday Mail

takanyiZimbabwe’s tennis star, Takanyi Garanganga continues to shine with the Open De Dakar Futures tournament in Senegal being his latest conquering ground.

The 24-year-old together with his South African partner Keith-Patrick Crowley dismissed Frenchmen Tom Jomby and Mick Lescure to win the doubles title of the Open De Dakar tournament last Friday.

And to prove his mettle, Garanganga stormed into the singles final where he was still playing Alexander Folie at the time of going to print.

The week-long tournament, which is sponsored to the tune of $15 000, began on Tuesday at the Olympique Club De Dakar

Garanganga and his South African partner seemed to have mastered the art of outclassing French opponents as they also defeated the pair of Gregoire Barrere and Jerome Inzerillo 6-2,6-4 in the semi-finals.

Playing on a hard surface in the outdoor tournament, Garanganga and Crowley, who were seeded fourth, won a tough first round tie 6-3 2-6 (10-8) against Dutchman Paul Monteban and Jordan Ubiergo of France.

The duo went on to dismiss Botswana’s Phenyo Matong, who was partnering Uganda’s Duncan Mugabe 6-2, 7-5 in the quarter-finals.

Speaking from Dakar, Garanganga said the win has boosted his confidence in his quest for a better world ranking.

“It’s been a good week for me, gradually working my confidence up where I need it to be so I can challenge bigger opponents at bigger tournaments,” said the Mbare-bred tennis player.

Ranked 388, Garanganga aims to be among the world’s top 100 tennis players and his sheer determination to achieve this goal cannot go unnoticed.

Meanwhile, the exciting Select Healthcare junior tennis tournament, which has attracted over 200 players from across the country, enters its final day today at Harare Sports Club with crunch encounters expected in both the boys and girls categories.

Top seed Ngoni Makambwa plays second seed Mark Chigaazira in the combined Under-16/18 boys final while hot favourite Beverly Matsiwe lines up against Zahra Finningan in the girls category.

In the doubles category, Karen Machisa joins forces with Beverly Machiwe against Finnigan and Catherene Vezey for the Under-18 girls title.

Makambwa and Chigaazira play Derick Namanya and Michael Gutu for the boys doubles title.

The sponsors of the tournament, who have poured in over $10 000, pledged to continue supporting junior tennis.

“We are happy with the turnout, the games have been exciting and we are sure to return again next year,” said Biggie Magarira, Managing Director of Select Healthcare.

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