Sports

KAMPALA – Top seeds Jean Claude Gasigwa and David Habiyambere were shown the exit as the Uganda Open Tennis event entered Day 5 on Wednesday at Lugogo Tennis Club in the Ugandan capital Kampala.

Rwandan star Gasigwa, who was favoured to win the event was beaten by Uganda’ s fast rising star David Oringa 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 in a game that last over three hours on center court.

With all the home support to his advantage Oringa capitalized on his good volleys and stamina to battle past the more seasoned Gasigwa.  “This is a very sweet victory and it gives me the guts to even play my heart out to the finals,” Oringa told Xinhua just after the game.

It was an intense game with Olinga taking a 5-2 lead in the first set, only for the experienced Gasigwa to fight back and win the set in a tie-break.

But Olinga returned determined and hungry to take the second set 6-2. The deciding set which kept spectators on their toes saw long rallies and clever play that Olinga chased at 4-1 and managed to take it to the after tie-break.

Gasigwa said although Olinga had won convincingly, the umpiring was not all the best because of some questionable calls.  Olinga was due to face fellow Ugandan Herbert Buyinza in one of the semi finals by press time.