 Challenger Tour after winning the Bangkok Open final in Nonthaburi, Thailand on Saturday.){kind=link}
Zimbabwe’s top-ranked professional tennis player Benjamin Lock claimed his career fourth doubles title on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Challenger Tour after winning the Bangkok Open final in Nonthaburi, Thailand on Saturday.
Lock combined with Yuta Shimizu of Japan to comfortably beat Francis Casey Alcantara of the Philippines and Christopher Rungkat of Indonesia 6-1, 6-1 in the final played on outdoor hard courts.
It was the fourth ATP Challenger Tour title for Lock, who has multiple doubles titles on the lower rung International Tennis Federation (ITF) Men’s World Tennis Tour.
Congratulations Coach Freeman and Benjamin Lock for winning the Bangkok Open Doubles👏🏾👏🏾 pic.twitter.com/Y0sjTNX92R
— Harare Metropolitan Tennis Board (@HarareTennis) September 4, 2022
The ATP Challenger Tour is the second-highest tier of tennis competition for men behind the lucrative ATP Tour and is a platform for players to earn ranking points to become eligible for the main draw or qualifying draw entry at ATP Tour tournaments.
The win in Bangkok is a massive boost for Benjamin, who will be playing a full schedule on the ATP Challenger Tour with his brother Courtney to finish the season in December.
After last week’s Bangkok Open, Lock will have two more tournaments in Thailand before travelling to Europe for the US$ 75000 Turkish Open in Istanbul from September 12 – 18.
Benjamin’s singles ranking has risen to 360 and doubles to 210, while Courtney’s doubles ranking has shot up to 250 on the ATP World Tour rankings.
The pair recently helped Zimbabwe secure promotion back to the Davis Cup World Group II Play-offs when beating Namibia 2-1 in a promotional play-off at the Africa Group III event in Algiers, Algeria last month.
The draw for the Davis Cup World Group II Play-offs will be conducted later this month with Zimbabwe hopeful of potentially getting a home tie in Harare in March 2023.
Zimbabwe’s leading irrigation specialists DripTech and top steel merchant and steel supplier. BSi Steel are the sponsoring brothers Benjamin and Courtney in their participation on the AFP Challenger Tour.