Morocco wins Africa tennis title after victory over Tunisia

Morocco won the 14th African Tennis Nations Cup Team Event after their men's and women's teams emerged victorious at the continental contest here on Sunday.

The two-day premier tennis event featured the top four tennis-playing nations in the continent namely Morocco, Tunisia, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo).

Tunisia took second position whereas DRC and hosts Kenya were placed in third and fourth positions respectively.

In the first men's singles match, Yassine Idmbarek of Morocco beat Tunisia's Aziz Duakaa 7-6, 3-6, (7-6) to emerge victorious, whereas in the second singles contest, Morocco's Amine Ahouda come out tops over Moez Echargui of Tunisia in a match that ended at 7-6, 6-0.

Dennis Indondo from DRC beat his Kenyan rival, Sheil Kotecha 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the first single soon after his countryman Sarma Nkulufa dispatched Ismael Mzai of Kenya 6-2, 6-3 to place the central African nation in third spot.

Indondo, who is the All Africa Games tennis champion, proved his supremacy in the match through hard serves and mastery over his opponent.

Tournament Director, Francis Mutuku, told Xinhua that the standards of the competition were extremely high, considering that most of the players compete in Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) events.

"Moez Echargui was the top ranked player in the tournament with ATP ranking of 148. The event served as a good experience for Kenyan players because they played and watched some of the best in the continent," Mutuku, who is also the vice-president of Tennis Kenya, said.

The president of Confederation of African Tennis, Tarak Cherif, said the association will open more International Tennis Federation (ITF) High Performance Training Centers across Africa to boost their current number from three - Casablanca (Morocco), Pretoria (South Africa), and Bujumbura (Burundi). Endit