Zimbabwe will go into Saturday’s remaining contests with some work to do in their Davis Cup Group II Playoff tie against Uruguay after the two teams could not be separated after an attritional opening day on the outdoor hardcourt at Harare Sports Club on Friday.
The hosts got off to a slow start after Courtney Lock lost 6-3 6-2 in one hour and 20 minutes against Uruguay’s number-one player Martin Cuevas in Friday’s opening singles match.
Courtney, who is usually a doubles specialist, had replaced Mehluli Sibanda as the home team’s number two singles player on the eve of the tie due to medical reasons.
With the visitors going 1-0 up, however, Zimbabwe’s number one player Benjamin Lock put a stop to a potential runaway defeat against the fancied South Americans.
The older of the Lock siblings, Benjamin had to dig deep into his reservoir of experience to secure a 7-6, 6-4 victory over Uruguay’s number two Igancio Carou to level the score at 1-1 after the first day’s action.
With the tie evenly poised, Zimbabwe will be looking to take the lead for the first time in the tie when the Lock brothers Benjamin and Courtney face off against the Uruguayan pair of Cuevas and Ariel Behar.
The result of the tie will then be decided in the reverse singles matches.