Buyinza thrashed, Mugabe in the fray

Yesterday – Singles
R. Buyinza (UGA) lost to R.
Rupesh (IND) 6-0, 6-0
Men’s Doubles
S. Vovk (RUS)/A. Flenikov beat
D. Mugabe (UGA)/ T.Garanganga
(ZIM) 6-3, 6-7, (12-10)
Today
D. Mugabe v O. Hedayet (EGY)

He got into the main draw without sweat courtesy of wildcard but Robert Buyinza’s tennis wasn’t wild enough to take him into the second round of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Rwanda leg Futures FI Circuit yesterday. Uganda’s second seed was quickly shown the exit door by the tourney’s second seed Roy Rupesh of India in a ruthless manner 6-0, 6-0 at the clay courts of Kigali Club. Later in the afternoon, Buyinza watched as his comrade Duncan Mugabe, who is East Africa’s finest, partnering Takanyi Garanganga of Zimbabwe go down fighting 6-3, 6-7 and 12-10 in the decider. Mugabe, seeded fifth for the on-going second leg of the East African Circuit in Kigali, will be in the fray today against Egyptian Omar Hedayet who beat South Africa’s Solomon Steffen 6-4, 6-2 in the Qualifiers to earn a Main Draw berth.

“I lost early in Bujumbura. I’m going to give this match 110% to ensure I stay here much longer. I am raring to go and don’t want to let down my fans,” enthused Mugabe. It will be the second career encounter between Mugabe and Hedayet after the Ugandan defeated the latter 6-4, 6-3 in last year’s Egypt F6 Futures event held in Cairo. Mugabe’s manager Cedric Babu is optimistic his athlete will come out of blocks eager to dominate the match.

“Duncan is still hurting from his first round exit in Bujumbura. He will want to partly avenge for that and also keep on track for the title. He needs ranking points as well as the cash prizes at stake,” reasoned Babu, who is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Kinetic Management Group (KMG) Africa that caters for the player’s well being.