Namibia’s unbeaten run at the Africa Group IV Davis Cup competition in Brazzaville, Congo continued yesterday when they beat the hosts Congo 3-0.
The result ensured that they qualified for the knockout stages of the tournament, with the semifinals starting tomorrow.
Against Congo, Namibia stamped their authority on the encounter from the start as Connor van Schalkwyk stormed to a 6-0, 6-2 victory against Duhamel Biboussy in the first singles match.
Van Schalkwyk already broke his opponent’s serve in the opening game and after two more service breaks, took the first set 6-0.
Biboussy managed to hold his serve at the start of the second set, but it was not long before Van Schalkwyk broke again as he completed a commanding straight sets victory.
Van Schalkwyk served four aces and three double faults, while he had a 43 percent success rate with his first serves and 85 percent with his second serve.
Connor’s brother Codie was even more impressive in the second singles match, beating Christ Mezenga Lentom 6-0, 6-0, after breaking Lentom’s serve six times.
Van Schalkwyk served four aces and one double fault, while he had a first serve success rate of 48 percent and 93 percent with his second serve.
That win already ensured their victory against Congo, but Namibia’s doubles pair of Nguvi Hinda and Daniel Jauss were determined to also win their doubles match and gave a great performance to come from behind and win the match in three sets, 6-7, 6-3, 6-1.
The Congolese pair of Duhamel Biboussy and Brasny Ntomosso took a 5-3 lead in the first set, but the Namibians pulled back to 5-5, and then 6-6 to force the tie-breaker. Here the Congolese streaked into a 6-1 lead, and although the Namibians managed to win the next three points, the Congolese eventually won 7-4.
Hinda and Jauss, however, staged a great recovery, and after two service breaks won the second set 6-3. They maintained their momentum in the third set and after two more service breaks ran out comfortable 6-1 winners.
Namibia now lead Group A with three wins from three, followed by Botswana with two wins, and Angola and Uganda with one victory each.
The Ivory Coast lead Group B with three successive wins, followed by Nigeria and Cameroon who each have two victories.
In the semifinals the top team in Group A will play the runner-up in Group B, while the Group B winners will play the runner-ups in Group A.
The semifinal winners will then qualify for the final on Sunday, but more importantly, they will also be promoted to Africa Group 3 of the Davis Cup.