ZIMBABWE tennis player Mbonisi Ndimande has been enjoying an excellent run of form in the United States after winning three consecutive matches in the qualifying draw of the USTA Men’s Pro Tennis Championships of Calabasas in California this week.
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With the three wins Ndimande, who graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara last year, qualified for the main draw, where he will take on American Evan Song today.
The 22-year-old got his campaign off to an impressive start with an easy 6-2, 6-0 straight sets victory over the US’s James Mcavoy in the round of 64. Ndimande who competed in two Junior Grand Slam events as a junior followed up the before recording another 6-2, 6-4 straight sets win over Dmitry Popko of Kazakhstan in the second round.
A hard-fought 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over Mexico’s Andrés Zepeda saw Ndimande qualifying for his first ITF Futures main draw of 2014. Ndimande’s recent good form puts him strongly in contention for a place in Zimbabwe’s Davis Cup team for the Davis Cup Africa Zone Group III tournament to be held in Egypt in September.
The Bulawayo-born star’s last appearance at the Davis Cup came way back in 2009, but with the recent top form he looks set to bounce back in the side to be captained by veteran player Martin Dzuwa.
Zimbabwe will battle it out with Algeria, Benin, Botswana, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria and Rwanda at the 11-nation tournament to be held during the week commencing September 8 at the Smash Tennis Academy in Cairo.
The teams will initially be split into two round-robin pools, with play-offs determining which two teams would be promoted to the 2015 Davis Cup Euro-Africa Zone Group II.
