Rwandan female tennis player Gisele Umumararungu enjoyed a perfect start to the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup Africa Group IV tournament after easing 2-0 (6-0 6-0) past Mozambican Helen Khumalo in Monday’s opening game held at Kigali Ecology Tennis Club. Umumararungu, one of the five young women representing Rwanda at the weeklong tournament, was in total control of the game played on the clay court of IPRC-Kigali and she comfortably won it to the delight of the home crowd. Her game level and pace in attack were from the very beginning too high for Khumalo to cope with. The 27-year-old won the first set 6-0 before producing the same score to make it 2-0 and win the first match in a dominant fashion. “The game was easy. the opponent was not tough, it is a big boost for us to win the opening game,” said Umumararungu. A total of 11 African countries are in the country for the Billie Jean King Cup 2023 which is taking place at the African continent for the first time. Officially opened by Rwanda Tennis Federation President Theoneste Karenzi, the tournament attracted female tennis players from Angola, Congo, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mozambique, Senegal, Tanzania and Rwanda who won the hosting rights for the tournament’s inaugural edition.
