Slovania Thrash Ghana

The Golden Rackets, Ghana's men's tennis team on Sunday lost the reverse singles matches to Slovenia in the Euro-Africa Zone Two Davis Cup match played at the Centre Court of the Accra Sports Stadium.

By this defeat the Ghanaians have failed to move into the Euro-African Zone One where their conquerors would play in the next edition. The losing streak began when Ghana's top seed, Gunther Darkey lost to his Slovenian counterpart, Tkalec Mark by three sets to nil to give the visitors an unassailable 3-1 lead. Scores were 6-3, 6-4, 7-6.

Ghana's number two seed Salifu Mohammed followed it up with a two-straight loss to Bostyau Osabuik in a formality final match, taking only three games in the two sets. The Slovenian won 6-1, 6-2. Mark kept his cool and double faulted only once in the entire game, which lasted two hours, 45 minutes as he proved a cut above his opponent in all spheres of the game.

The match produced 19 aces with 14 going in favour of Gunther who on the other hand double faulted on 12 occasions as against only one by his rival. The third set was the thriller of the afternoon as entered a tie-break but it was the Slovenian who prevailed with his powerful backhand strokes, forcing Gunther to run from one edge of the court to the other.

Anytime the Ghanaian attacked, Mark succeeded in drilling home passing shots to draw cheers from the partisan crowd. On Friday, the two teams tied at one all after Salifu had lost to Andrej Kracman ans Gunther went past Bostyau Osabuik. The Slovanians won the doubles to take a 2-1 lead and their double victory on Sunday gives them a 4-1 victory over the Ghanaians

Below are the results

Andrej Kracman (SLO) d. Salifu Mohammed (GHA) 64 64 16 67(3) 86
Gunther Darkey (GHA) d. Bostjan Osabnik (SLO) 64 61 62
Andrej Kracman/Marko Tkalec (SLO) d. Kwasi Ahenkora/Gunther Darkey(GHA) 75 64 64
Marko Tkalec (SLO) d. Gunther Darkey (GHA) 63 64 76(5)
Bostjan Osabnik (SLO) d. Salifu Mohammed (GHA) 62 61

Ghana in tight corner after double defeat
05.04.2003 -- Ghana found herself in a tight corner after they lost the doubles match of the Euro-Africa Zone Two Davis Cup tie by three straight sets to their Slovenian counterparts to fall behind 2-1 in the five match rubber going into Sunday's reverse single matches.

The Slovenian pair of Andrej Kracman and Marko Tkalec won the encounter 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 over the Ghanaian pair of Gunther Darkey and Kwasi Ahinkrah in a match played at the Centre Court of the Accra Sports Stadium.

Ghana would now have to win all the reverse single matches on Sunday to enable them win the rubber 3-2.

The Slovenians who took a gamble when they used injured top seed Tkalec to pair up with Kracman yielded required results when the combination proved too stronger for the Ghanaian pair.

As it is becoming a tradition in this tie, the Ghanaians dropped serve in their opening game of the set, as pressure was brought to bear on Gunther's serve as tall Kracman covered the net with his huge frame. The Slovenians after the early break held on to their serve till the 10th game when the Ghanaian broke back to even proceedings.

But by twist of fate, the Ghanaians gave the lead back to the opponents when they allowed their serve to be broken again immediately in the 11th game for the Slovenian before they finished off the set 7-5.

The second set was much more even as both teams held unto their serve till the fifth gave when Slovenians broke the Ghanaians again on Gunther's serve as Kracman did all the damage after which they held on to win the second set 6-4.

In the third set the Ghanaian did all they could to revive their fading hope in the match as they held on to the serve and put some pressure on the opponents serve but found the Slovenians very unyielding forcing the game to go with serve until the seventh game.

The much more experienced Slovenians broke in the seventh a lead which they held to win the third and final set 6-4.

The Competition continues today (Sunday) with the reverse single matches where top seeds Gunther and Kracman go head to head followed by the battle of the second seeds, which would see 16-year-old Mohammed Salifu play Bostyau Osabuik.

The winner of the three-day event would play winner of the Denmark and Tunisia encounter to determine which team moves to Euro-Africa Zone One.

Summary

Results Saturday in the first-round Euro-African Zone Group II Davis Cup tie between Ghana and Slovenia at the Accra Sports Stadium in Accra:
Andrej Kracman and Marko Tkalec, Slovenia, def. Kwasi Ahenkora, Gunther Darkey, Ghana, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.
Ghana 1, Slovenia 2.

Results Friday: Andrej Kracman, Slovenia, def. Salifu Mohammed, Ghana: 6-4, 6-4, 1-6, 6-7 (3), 8-6.
Gunther Darkey, Ghana, def. Bostjan Osabnik, Slovenia: 6-4, 6-1, 6-2.
Gunther pulls Ghana level: Gunther Darkey, Ghana's top seed, on Friday took just one-and-a-half hours to dismiss Bostyau Osabuik, Slovenia's second seed, in three straight sets to even the scores on the first day of the Euro-Africa Zone Two Davis Cup tie.
Gunther won the encounter 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 in their match played at the Centre Court of the Accra Sports Stadium.
The Ghanaian needed to win the match at all costs to even proceedings after 16-year-old, Mohammed Salifu, Ghana's second seed making his Davis cup debut, lost the opening match in five sets to Andrej Kracman, Slovenia's top seed in a battle that lasted for over four hours. The result was 6-4, 6-4, 1-6, 6-7, 8-6 in favour of Kracman.
Ironically it was Osabuik who broke Gunther's serve in the first game but the Ghanaian quickly rallied to break back immediately.
Gunther never looked back after the break as he held his serve and broke again in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead.
Complacency set into the Ghanaian's game as he doubled faulted and committed many unforced errors at the net. The Slovenian capitalised on this dip in Gunther's performance to break back and then win his game to level the scores at 3-3.
The game then went with serve until the 10th game when Gunther applied more pressure on the serve of the Osabuik and broke his serve to win the first set 6-4.
The second set was much easier as Gunther imposed himself on the game right from the start and succeeded in breaking the Slovenian in the second and fourth games to take a 4-0 lead.
The anticipated clean sweep in the second set did not materialise as Osabuik held his serve in the sixth game, but Gunther won the set 6-1.
Gunther's booming serves and powerful groundstrokes caused the Slovenian many problems in the third set, as he appeared to be getting tired in the hot sun.
The Ghanaian broke his opponent's serve in the first and third games and went on to take the set 6-2.
The Competition continues on Saturday with the doubles match where Gunther would pair up with Kwasi Ahenkrah to play Osabuik and Kracman. The reverse singles would be played on Sunday.
The winner of the three-day event would play winner of the Denmark and Tunisia encounter to determine which team moves to Euro-Africa Zone One.

Ghana loses first set to Slovenia

Ghana's Davies Cup debutante Salifu Mohamed put up a gallant fight in the opening match of the 2003 Euro-Africa Zone Two group match against his Slovenian counterparts Andreas Kracman at the centre court of the Accra Sports Stadium Tennis Court on Friday but lost the game by 3-2 sets.
In the game, which lasted for almost four hours, the 16-year old US based Ghanaian showed signs of inexperience in the first set and succumbed to Kracman with poor returns and faulty serves and allowed him to take an early lead and eventually won the set by 6-4.
Young Mohamed showed signs of recovery in the second set, but started committing similar mistakes he made in the first set and raising the ball on most occasions to the advantage of the taller Slovenian.
Kracman had it easy in picking the needed points by combining his powerful forehand and backhand returns to defeat the Ghanaian by another 6-4 margin.
The Ghanaian came back strongly with a much-improved game in the third and fourth set and excited the partisan crowd with his excellent ground strokes and intelligent play to level up with the Slovenian on two sets each at the end of the fourth set.
Mohamed won the third set by 6-1 in a game which he totally dominated leaving the foreigner with no answers to his groundstrokes.
However in a tough fourth set, Mohamed managed to catch up with Kracman who took an early lead in the set and send the game to a compromising tiebreaker.
Mohamed adopted a serve and volley tactics to the disadvantaged of the weary European who had cramps all over his face as a result of the scotching sun.
A well-composed Mohamed won with an ace serve to put the points at 7-6 in his favour at the end of the set, sending all dignitaries, including Mr. Joe Aggrey deputy Minister of Sports, officials of the Ghana Tennis Association (GTA) and fans into a state of ecstasy.
In spite of the toll of the weather on Kracman, Mohamed failed to take advantage in the last set after catching up with him once again with six points each.
The Ghanaian left his serves unutilised, as the Slovenian relied on his rich experience to win almost all his serves and taking part of Mohamed' to his advantage.
Though a good fight, the young Ghanaian also looked tired at this stage could only managed an 8-6 loss to the foreigner.