After recently succumbing to Tunisia, Zimbabwe’s Davis Cup will be hoping to bounce back to winning ways after being drawn to face El Salvador in qualifiers for the 2022 World Group II Play-offs.
The Zimbabwe team lost 4-0 to Tunisia in the Davis Cup World Group II last week in the North African country to end any hope they had of earning promotion to the 2022 World Group I.
Zimbabwe’s tie against Tunisia was their first in the Davis Cup since beating Syria 3 – 1 at Harare Sports Club early last year.
The draws for the Davis Cup World Group I and II play-offs 👇
How did it go for your nation? 🌍 pic.twitter.com/FT8ozQfy34
— Davis Cup (@DavisCup) December 5, 2021
The Zimbabwe team was made up of Benjamin Lock who is the number one player, Courtney Lock, Mehluli Sibanda and newcomer Thabo Ncube. Gwinyai Tongoona wasthe non-playing captain while senior player Takanyi Garanganga missed the trip to North Africa.
Zimbabwe will be seeking redemption in the upcoming qualifiers which will be played on a home-and-away basis with the first-round expected to be played on September 16-17 or September 17-18.
The 12 winning nations from the 2022 World Group II Play-offs will progress to 2022 World Group II ties. The 12 losing nations will compete in regional Group III events later in 2022.
El Salvador are ranked 67 in the Davis Cup while Zimbabwe are only four places higher at 63 in the world. Zimbabwe have earned 135.63 points from 10 matches while El Salvador have earned 127 points from seven matches.
Zimbabwe have played in the Davis Cup since 1963 and played in 108 ties (55-53 win-loss) and their opponents in the next round are fairly new in the competition having made their debut in 1991 playing 98 ties.
World Group II Play-offs draw
China, P.R. (s) (c*) v Ireland
Dominican Republic (s) (c*) v Vietnam
Thailand (s) (c*) v Latvia
Guatemala (c*) v Chinese Taipei (s)
Indonesia (c*) v Venezuela (s)
Estonia (s) (c*) v Pacific Oceania
Egypt (s) (c) v Cyprus
Greece (s) (c*) v Jamaica
Morocco (s) (c) v Monaco
Bulgaria (s) (c*) v Paraguay
Zimbabwe (s) (c*) v El Salvador
Benin (c*) v Hong Kong, China (s)
(s) = seed; (c) = choice of ground; * = choice of ground decided by lot