Team Nigeria to the ongoing ITF U-18 Junior circuit in Benin Republic are all smiles as the team reportedly qualified for the finals of two major events.
Naija Tennis Special can report that Oyinlomo Quadri who was ousted in the quarterfinals of the girls’ singles picked herself up and partnered the amazing Adetayo Adetunji to waltz through to the final of the girls’ doubles.
The Nigerian girls defeated the Cameroonian pair of Emanuela and Linda Eloundou in two straight sets of 6-3, 6-1 to set up a final clash against Alessandra Antilla and Doroteja Djokosovics.
Adetunji, a quarterfinalist at the last Commonwealth Games also proved her mettle at the tournament by defeating crowd favourite, Carmine Becoude from Benin Republic 6-4, 6-4 and will battle Linda Eloundou in the girls’ singles final on Saturday.
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| Adetayo Adetunji has made it to the final of the girls’ Singles and Doubles at the ongoing ITF U-18 Junior Circuit in Benin Republic. |
The boys were not so lucky as the pair of Michael Oshewa and Michael Ayoola lost to Irish-born Nigerian, Bola Obasoto and Aziz Elali in a 1-6, 3-6 tie.
But Christopher Bulus continued to live up to his pre-tournament rating by defeating Sylvester Molou from Benin in two straight sets of 6-4, 6-3 to set up a semis confrontation of Dallas Ntcha, another strong Beninoise.
With these results, Team Nigeria can be expecting a top place finish at the tournament and build the momentum for the next two legs of the ITF circuit in neighbouring Togo.
“It was a great relief to see the players win convincingly today, this will definitely fire them up for the next two legs as we hope to consolidate on their performances in the last few games.
“Like I said at the beginning of this championship, it is quite tough this year, and our players have become targets of other opponents because of our rating.
“We shall strive to end this leg well and bounce back in the remaining two legs,” Abel Ubiebi, one of the coaches who took the players to the West African country, explained.