Ethiopia’s debut staging of back-to-back events on the ITF World Tennis Tour proved particularly memorable for Benjamin Lock.

Fourteen-months on from his last professional singles title, the 30-year-old from Zimbabwe went back-to-back at M15 Addis Ababa, winning 10 matches in a row and dropping just a solitary set in the process.

Lock defeated Eric Vanshelboim 7-5 6-2 for the title on 21 May before completing a 6-2 6-2 win over Indian Rishab Agarwal in the final on Sunday for his second and third professional titles on clay.

He now has 10 ITF singles titles to his name, and leapt back into the ATP's top 400 on Monday by virtue of his double triumph, climbing 34 places to No. 382 in the singles rankings – just 22 spots shy of his career-high ranking.

Back to back 🏆🏆 Let’s go #twiza pic.twitter.com/12mdkzrVme

— Benjamin Lock (@Benjamm1ng) May 28, 2023

Best-known for his doubles success, Lock has collected 35 professional doubles titles (16 of which have come alongside his younger brother Courtney, 26) – including four at ATP Challenger level.

The location of Lock's twin triumphs was particularly significant with Ethiopia, roughly 4,500km north-east of Lock’s native Zimbabwe, back on the tennis map this year after a 17-year absence.

Two J30 junior tournaments were held in Addis Ababa – the nation’s capital city – in February, before this month’s inaugural staging of professional men’s tournaments.

Tennis has been played in Ethiopia since the 1930s but, following a period of relative inactivity, interest intensified during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, and has continued since.

Ethiopia made a return to international team competition last year, featuring in Davis Cup for the first time in 20 years in July - ultimately finishing seventh in an Africa Group IV event after losing to Senegal, Ghana and hosts Cameroon before beating Mauritius in the positional play-off.

Click here for all this weekend's winners on the ITF World Tennis Tour