Rwanda: Ishimwe, Manishimwe Eliminated, Rain Interrupts Rwamucyo's Debut M25 Match

8 October 2025
The New Times (Kigali)
By Alexis Kayinamura

Rains in Kigali got the majority of Tuesday's Rwanda Open M25 first round matches at RP-Kicukiro Ecology Tennis Club either suspended or postponed as the weather conditions turned out unfriendly for players to play nor for umpires to officiate.

The downpour saw four gentlemen's singles matches, including Rwanda's David Manzi Rwamucyo's first-round tie against Germany's Maximilian Homberg, twice interrupted before the umpires decided to suspend them. Six doubles matches were also halted before they even started.

Rwamucyo, left the Center court down 4-5. He will now have time to fix where he did badly before the game resumes on Wednesday at 9:00am, same court, the same kickoff for all other suspended matches.

Earlier in the day, Rwanda's top seed Claude Ishimwe and countryman Emmanuel Manishimwe suffered straight-set defeats, both losing 6-0, 6-0 to Germany's Marlon Vankan and Morocco's Yassine Dilmi, respectively.

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The results ended hopes of a home win in the singles main draw, leaving Étienne Niyigena and Rwamucyo as Rwanda's remaining players in contention.

Niyigena is scheduled to face France's third seed or two-time Rwanda Open M25 winner Corentin Denolly on Centre Court on Wednesday, after Rwamucyo's rescheduled match at center court.

In doubles round of 16, Niyigena and Ishimwe will pair up later against Frenchman Amaury Raynel and Romania's Ioan Alexandru Teglas, while Gift Ivan Ngarambe teams up with Uganda's David Oringa to face India's Aditya Balsekar and Malaysia's Darrshan Suresh in their round of 16 tie.

Tournament organisers confirmed that the schedule has been adjusted to accommodate the postponed matches following Tuesday's washout.

In another twist, two top contenders -- Damien Wenger, the 2023 Rwanda Open champion, and Karan Singh, last year's semifinalist -- have withdrawn from this year's Kigali M25 event.

The 2025 Rwanda Open, which is part of the ITF Men's World Tennis Tour, carries a total prize purse of $30,000, marking a 20 percent increase from last year's $25,000. Kigali will host two consecutive M25 tournaments, running from October 6-12 and October 13-16, attracting more than 30 international players, including ten ranked inside the world's top 1,000.

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