The drama at the ongoing Tombim ITF Futures continued on Thursday morning when Maximilian Neuchrist, the Australian number two seed was bundled out of the tournament by Hueb de Menezes, Joao Lucas, the number seven seed from Brazil.
The Brazilian defeated the Australian in two straight sets of 6-4, 6-4 in a match that lasted over one hour at the centre court of the tennis section inside the Package B arena of the National Stadium in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital.
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| Neuchrist lost to a Brazilian number seven seed in the tournament. |
This is also coming after the tournament’s number four seed, Takanyi Garanganga, suffered an unprecedented defeat to Stephan Gerritsen from Netherlands on Wednesday.
Gerritsen who got into the main draw through the qualifying rounds suffered an unpleasant fate on Thursday morning, however, as his fight against Angele, Jaimee Floyd, a French star, who defeated him in the third set.
Meanwhile, Africa’s hope of clinching the ITF Futures title was dashed on Thursday as Namibian Tukhula Jacobs lost 6-1, 6-3 to Danylo Kalenichenko of Ukraine as the $25, 000 prize-money tournament in Abuja hits home-stretch.
Jacobs, 23, a wild card entrant, had defeated Japan’s Kento Takeuchi and Frenchman Remi Boutillier in straight sets heading to his clash with his European opponent but he could not stand the firepower of the world number 551 right-handed player on Centre Court.