RISING tennis star Benjamin Lock continued his remarkable run of form on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Pro Circuit over the last three weeks after completing a hatrick of doubles title in Kuwait yesterday.
BY DANIEL NHAKANISO
The 24-year-old Zimbabwean and his American playing partner Robert Galloway hardly broke a sweat as they comfortably beat Marc Dijkhuizen from Netherlands and Serbia’s Darko Jandric 6-2, 6-1 in the final of the Kuwait F3 Futures tournament at Yarmouk Sports Club in Meshref, Kuwait yesterday.
It was the pair’s third successive victory in as many weeks in the oil-rich country after also winning the Kuwait F1 Futures and Kuwait F2 Futures titles.
For Lock, it was his sixth doubles title of what has been an impressive season on the circuit as he looks to make the next leap in his promising career.
Lock, who also won the Zimbabwe F2 Futures singles title in June — the third of his career — is planning to qualify for next year’s Australian Open which would require him to significantly improve his ranking by December this year.
Last week Lock rose to a career high doubles ranking of number 288 and after yesterday, he looks set for a another ranking boost which would improve his chances of a Grand Slam appearance next season.
“When I turned pro in July 2016, my goal was to make the Australian Open 2018 and that remains my number one focus.
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My target this year is to improve my ranking so that I move from ITF Pro Circuit to the ATP World Tour,” Lock said in an interview with Standardsport recently.
Lock, who is the son of Tennis Zimbabwe president Martin Lock and brother to US-based tennis player Courtney, has also been a key member of the Zimbabwe Davis Cup team.
Zimbabwe regained promotion back to the Davis Cup Europe/Africa Group II and are set to mark their return with a tricky home tie against Turkey in February next year at a venue to be advised.
