Bad day in the office for Lock brothers

IT was a bad day in the office for the Lock brothers — Benjamin and Courtney — as they both went down in their singles matches to hand hosts Hong Kong a commanding 2-0 lead over Zimbabwe on the opening day of their Davis Cup World Group II tie at Victoria Park Tennis Stadium yesterday.

The older of the Locks, Benjamin, lost to Hong Kit Wong 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (5-7), while Hong Kong’s top seed Coleman Wong brushed aside Courtney in straight sets 6-2, 6-0.

Yesterday’s singles results left Zimbabwe with a tough task to try and salvage victory from the jaws of defeat.

It now means Zimbabwe will have to win all their three remaining games today, which will comprise a doubles match and the reverse singles.

Benjamin and Courtney will combine to face the pair of Coleman Wong and Chun Hun Wong in the doubles.

The tie will then move to the reverse singles, as the two nations’ top seeds Benjamin and Coleman Wong meet, while Courtney plays Hong Kit Wong.

Benjamin — seeded 348 on the ATP rankings — will look back to yesterday’s action with a lot of regrets after having done so well to begin the match as he raced to a 6-3 first-set lead. The 30-year-old Zimbabwean top seed came out of the blocks early, as he broke his Asian opponent’s serve in the second game of the match and raced to a 3-0 lead.

He would go on to hold his serve for the entire set, only losing three games, to take it 6-3.

Wong hit back in the second set, as he broke the Zimbabwean in the fourth game and held on for an identical 6-3 win.

With the match delicately balanced, with each player claiming a set apiece, Lock seemed headed for victory when he broke Wong in the second game and took what seemed like a comfortable 4-1 lead.

He, however, squandered crucial match points and allowed Wong to break him twice.

Thereafter, Benjamin and Wong maintained their serve to set up a tie-breaker for both the set and match.

Wong then went on to win the tie-breaker 7-5 and give the hosts just the confidence booster they needed.

Courtney did not fare any better in an encounter with Hong Kong’s Coleman Wong, who brushed him aside 6-2 in the first set and wrapped up the match 6-0 in the second set.