Rwanda: J60 Kigali - Habiyambere Shines in Doubles As Walkovers Favor Rwandan Girls

6 August 2025
The New Times (Kigali)
By Dylan Mugenga

Calvin Habiyambere continues to enjoy a bright start to the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors (J60) in Kigali after he teamed up with Gedeon Murinzi to beat Arthur Tagirov and King Onyx Umuhoza in the boys' doubles first round, while Chrissa Sheja Mugabo qualified for second round in girls singles after her opponent failed to show up.

Habiyambere, the only Rwandan to clinch the second round in the singles, also made his mark in the doubles as he and Murinzi came from behind to beat Umuhoza and Thurov in three sets 3-6, 6-4, 10-5 to advance to the next round.

He will now return to action on Wednesday, August 6, in a singles match against Week One top seed Juliusz Stanczyk, while in doubles he and Murinzi face Italy's Amerigo Ambrosi and Matteo Mariya, in the second round.

Meanwhile, the first week of girls' singles tournament started on Tuesday as there weren't enough players to fill in the main draw. It was, however, an unlucky day for Rwandan duo Kenzy Kabanda and Thierrine Ineza who were eliminated from the first round. Only Cherissa Mugabo continued in the second round after she got no opponent to play against in the first round.

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Kabanda was eliminated after a two-set humbling by Israel's Karin Ulianitsky 6-0, 6-0 while Ineza was outclassed 6-0, 6-1 by seed 3 Nandini Kansal.

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In the girls' doubles, Cherissa Mugabo and Ugandan Macrina Nimaro Ennema passed through the first round without playing due to the absence of their opponent. They are scheduled to face Ofri Behr and Bahar Kilie in the quarter-finals.

The same happened to Thierrine Ineza and Indian Patel Mariya, who are face Xiang Liu and Liza Richterman in the quarter-finals.

In the girls' singles, Mugabo will face seed 5 Ofri Behr in the second-round while top seed Jannat Chiripal will play against Israeli Karin Ulianitsky.

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