Kenya in must-win tie against South Africa

Kenya's men's wheelchair team will face South Africa on Saturday in their third match of the World Team Cup Africa Tennis qualifiers while the women's team will battle Ghana in their second round at the Nairobi Club.

In the men’s category, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania and Cameroon feature in Pool A while Morocco, Nigeria, Ghana and Egypt feature in Pool B. Kenya’s women team is placed in Pool B alongside Ghana and Cameroon while Pool A has Morocco, Tanzania and Egypt.

Kenya, second behind leaders South Africa in the men's standings, recorded a 2-1 loss to Tanzania on Friday. South Africa maintained the top position after following up their 3-0 win over Tanzania on Thursday with a similar score against Cameroon on Friday.

In Friday’s matches, Tanzania's Juma Hamisi lost to Kenya's Peter Munuve in two straight unchallenged sets of 6-0, 6-0 while his compatriot Novatus Temba outclassed Kenya's Collins Omondi 6-1, 6-2 in the men's singles placing both teams at a 1-1 tie before the doubles.

Later in the doubles, Tanzania's Hamisi and Temba added to Kenya’s woes after hitting Munuve and Rajab Abdallah 6-4, 6-2 to finish the day with a 2-1 win.

“Compared to yesterday’s match against Cameroon, Tanzania was a bit tougher than we anticipated. They had very strong serves and unexpected returns that threw our game off but we are looking to redeem ourselves against South Africa who are a stronger team so we will have to be on constant alert throughout the match,” said Abdallah.

Unlike the women’s team who have played in the World Cup thrice in 2014, 2017 and 2018, the men’s team will be looking to make their debut this year if they beat South Africa on Saturday and outclass the top team from Pool B on Sunday in the final.

Meanwhile, women's team captain Jane Ndenga has said that Morocco posses the biggest in their final but they still hope to maintain their perfect run in the qualifiers since the inception of the competition in 2012.