Lock shines at ITA Southeast tournament

Tennis
ZIMBABWE’s Davis Cup tennis player Benjamin Lock advanced to the quarter-finals of the singles and semi-finals of the doubles on Sunday

ZIMBABWE’s Davis Cup tennis player Benjamin Lock advanced to the quarter-finals of the singles and semi-finals of the doubles on Sunday at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Southeast Regional Championships underway in Atlanta, Georgia in the US.

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The 20-year-old star, on a tennis scholarship at Florida State University, won a quick 6-2, 6-1 match against University of South Florida’s Paul Polarczyk in the first round of the singles.

In the round of 16, only Lock won his match while his teammates fell by the wayside, with a decisive 6-2, 6-3 win over yet another University of South Florida player Henrique Tsukamoto.

The former standout junior player was expected to take on Maxx Lipman in the quarter-finals late yesterday.

“I felt I played well in singles today,” Lock told the Florida State University website. “I played my game and focused well at important moments in my matches. I feel I’m getting better with each match, so hopefully I can play some of my best tennis tomorrow.”

In doubles play, Lock and his playing partner Marco Nunez upset a ranked team for the second straight day with an 8-3 win over Robert Schulze and Sofiane Chevallier of Georgia State.

The three were expected to play The University of Florida’s Gordon Watson and Elliott Orkin in semi-finals last night.

“Doubles has been good this fall,” Nunez said. “We beat a solid team from Georgia State today and are pumped to play Florida tomorrow in the semi-finals. I’m glad to have my first singles win as a Seminole today, even though it came later than I expected. I’m starting to get my game back, but there is still a lot of room for improvement.”

“Marco and I have been playing good in doubles,” continued Lock.

“Today was another good day for us. We complement each other really well and I like our chances tomorrow.” he added.