Naija Tennis Special can reliably report that there was a major upset yesterday in the third round of matches at the ongoing NNPC/ Chevron Junior Masters taking place at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, LLTC, Onikan, Lagos.
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| .National Junior Coach Ubale Mohammed |
Number 13 seed, Michael Olajibiti sent Michael Amos packing as he struggled to a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, just as Osakwe George lost to Peter Lawal in straight sets of 0-6, 5-7.
Number two seed, Michael Michael, who was at the Africa Junior Tennis Championship, AJTC in Abuja early this year, proved his superiority as he quickly dispatched unseeded Odeyemi Opeyemi, 6-1, 6-4 to book a place in the Quarter-final stage of the tournament.
Godsgift Timibra seeded number five was made to sweat before defeating Augustine Stephen seeded sixteen as he laboured to a 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 win in another third round match decided at the back court yesterday.
In other matches, number one seeded player, Emannuel idoko lived up to his pre-tournament billing as he outplayed Maxwell Keseye 6-0, 6-0. Christopher Itodo also proved a handful for Isaac Emerua as he won 6-2, 4-0 (rtd).
Michael Osewa defeated Morakinyo Rilwan 6-2, 7-5 as Bulus Christopher succumbed to number three seeded player, Olayunji Niyi 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-3.
The quarter final pairings will see Olajibiti take on Lawal, Michael will trade tackles against Timibra while Idoko will seek to continue with his roller-coaster ride against Itodo. Osewa and Niyi will also do battle in the other fixture of the day as the tournament nears its end.
National Junior Coach Ubale Mohammed, told Naija Tennis Special that the level of play is higher than what was obtainable last year, stating that he believes the players can only get better with every match they play.
“This is a massive improvement from what we witnessed here last year and I am really impressed,” he said adding that, “if we continue at this rate, we shall produce many great players from this tournament for future national events”.