Van Schalkwyk brothers strike early at Davis Cup

Namibia took the first step towards a third consecutive Davis Cup World Group Two Play-off appearance yesterday when Codie and Connor van Schalkwyk delivered straight-set victories in the opening Africa Group Three tie against Côte d’Ivoire.Held at the Entente Sportive de Bujumbura sports complex in Burundi, the opening singles match saw Codie beat Francky Hoimian 6-1, 6-2, handing Namibia a 1-0 lead.Connor followed up by dispatching Moye Koffi 6-0, 6-1 in 59 minutes to put the country beyond reach at 2-0. The doubles rubber was still being played when Sport Wrap went to print.A 3-0 victory over Côte d’Ivoire would leave Namibia with stronger count-back figures should the promotion positions require tiebreaks. The singles victories earned Namibia one round-robin point and a 1-0 tie record.Each of the six participating countries will play five ties by Saturday. The teams finishing first, second and third will qualify for the 2027 World Group Two Play-offs, while the bottom two will be relegated to Africa Group Four.Remaining opponentsNamibia still have ties against hosts Burundi, Benin, Senegal and Togo to negotiate before their final position is known.Codie established the platform with a performance built on control, winning 25 of the 29 points played behind his first serve, holding serve throughout and extinguishing both break points Hoimian managed to create.On return, the Namibian converted four of his eight break-point opportunities, breaking twice in each set.That balance between protecting his own delivery and maintaining pressure on Hoimian’s serve allowed Codie to concede only three games on his way to victory in one hour and 11 minutes.Connor then turned what might have been a difficult opening service game into the start of a one-sided contest.He slipped 0-30 behind in the first game but responded by winning four consecutive points to hold. It proved to be Koffi’s closest route into the match.Connor captured the opening seven games, breaking three times to seal the first set 6-0 before holding at the start of the second. Koffi finally stopped the sequence by holding for 1-1, but that remained his only game.The Namibian reeled off the final five games, adding two more breaks before opening his last service game with consecutive aces and converting his first match point.Koffi did not manufacture a single break point during the match, while Connor converted five of his seven at the other end. The pressure was particularly severe on Koffi’s second serve, from which the Ivorian won only three of 13 points.Namibia take head-to-head leadBeyond providing a winning start to this year’s promotion campaign, the result strengthens Namibia’s position in its Davis Cup rivalry with Côte d’Ivoire.The Ivorians won the countries’ first meeting 3-0 in Windhoek in 2004. Namibia reversed that scoreline in Abuja in 2024, with yesterday’s victory moving the country 2-1 ahead in the all-time series, irrespective of the unfinished doubles result.The 2024 win over Côte d’Ivoire completed a campaign in which Namibia topped the six-country Africa Group Three standings and qualified for the following year’s World Group Two Play-offs.They came within one rubber of advancing further before losing 3-2 to Hong Kong, China in the World Group Two Play-offs in February 2025.Namibia returned to the play-offs after finishing second at last year’s Group Three tournament in Harare, but Estonia brought that campaign to an end with a 4-0 victory in Windhoek in February.Top-three finishA top-three finish in Bujumbura would therefore give Namibia a third successive World Group Two Play-off appearance, with that tie to be contested next year.For a country that made its Davis Cup debut in 2000 and has spent most of its history in Africa Group Three, another qualification would underline its most sustained push towards establishing itself above the regional level.Côte d’Ivoire had also arrived as more than an ordinary opening opponent. After being relegated from Group Three in 2024, the Ivorians immediately fought their way back by winning all four of their ties at last year’s Africa Group Four tournament.Namibia Tennis Association president Vekondja Kuzee described yesterday’s result as a “great start for Namibia” in comments to Sport Wrap.“Ivory Coast is one of the stronger nations in the competition, so getting them early and winning sets us [Namibia] up well to achieve our objective of promotion to World Group Two.”– mariud@nsh.com.na

Van Schalkwyk brothers strike early at Davis Cup

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