Kevin Cheruiyot and Ibrahim Yego crashed out of the Mozambique Futures tournament yesterday in Maputo.
Cheruiyot put up a gallant fight in his first-round clash against Eric Vanshelboim of Ukraine before going down 6-1, 7-5. Yego failed to move past the qualifying rounds, losing to Zimbabwe's Courtney John Lock 6-2, 6-4.
Cheruiyot was outclassed in the first set, winning a mere game but he rediscovered his form in the second set before matching the Ukrainian point for point. He then ran out of steam and lost in the decider.
Cheruiyot said he will be looking forward to the third tournament in the series with a view to going on a good run after the first-round exit in the first two tournaments.
“I need to improve on certain aspects of my game including my service and return. However, I will have another opportunity next week,” added Cheruiyot.
Yego will be aiming to get to the first round proper in next week's tournament. The duo is using the event to prepare for next year's Davis Cup playoff match against Indonesia. Elsewhere, Kenyan players had mixed performances in the ITF World Tennis Tour Championships at Nairobi Club.
Sophie Singh Chana lost to Yalbete Kebede 6-0, 6-1; Edmond Ogega lost to Natnael Ahmed (Ethiopia) 6-0, 6-0 as Kartik Parhar of India edged Raymond Oduor of 6-2, 6-0. In another match, Kennedy Musembi lost out to Samar Elyasi 6-1, 6-0.
