Team Nigeria at the ongoing 2024 Davis Cup Africa Group III Qualification Rounds in Abuja has started its campaign on a bright note, stunning their highly rated Zimbabwean counterparts.
The duo of Emmanuel Michael and Christopher Bulus created upsets in their first group matches of the round-robin against Zimbabwe’s Courtney and Benjamin Lock in the men’s singles event.
Zimbabwe came into the tournament as the number one-ranked nation and looked poised to impose their dominance against Nigeria, the lowest-ranked nation out of the six participating countries in the qualifier.
As expected, the Zimbabweans both took the offensive, demonstrating class and superiority over their Nigerian counterparts in the first set of their matches.
Michael staged a dramatic comeback from a set down to claim a well-deserved victory of 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 over Courtney Lock.
It was déjà vu for Team Nigeria as Bulus also lost the first set 3-6 against Benjamin Lock before finishing strong in the second and third sets with scores of 6-2 and 6-3 to claim a 2-1 victory.
Team Nigeria will face Zimbabwe in the men’s doubles event on Wednesday as they look to continue their fairy tale winning run.
The 2024 Davis Cup Africa Group III Qualification Rounds, which kicked off on Tuesday with six countries participating—namely Zimbabwe, Namibia, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Benin Republic, and host Nigeria—is expected to conclude on Saturday.
The teams are ranked based on their international ratings. Zimbabwe is ranked 77, Namibia is ranked 78, while Côte d’Ivoire sits just behind them in 79th position.
Benin Republic is ranked 83rd in the world, Ghana occupies the 89th spot, while Nigeria is 92nd.
All six teams are competing for three promotional tickets to World Group II.
While two teams will be relegated to Africa Group IV, one team will remain in Group III after the round of matches.
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