Any chance of Nigerian players to progress beyond the second round of the ongoing ITF Futures in Zimbabwe have been all but quashed when Joseph Imeh retired in the first set of the match against Takanyi Garanganga, and lost the game in the process.
Nigerian Tennis Live checks revealed that the Kenya-bound Nigerian number one male tennis player, could not last beyond 28 minutes in the game which he was already losing 2-5 to the more experienced Zimbabwean player.
As at the time of filing this report, our correspondent could not figure out the reason he retired within the first 30 minutes of the game, but chances are that he sustained an injury and did not want to aggravate it ahead of the fast approaching Davis Cup Team tournament where he is expected to represent Nigeria.
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| Nigeria’s Imeh could not continue with his adventure at the ITF Futures Zimbabwe after retiring during his second match against Takanyi Garanganga. |
The number two seed thus progressed to the quarter final stage of the $15,000 tournament to consolidate his ranking points a few weeks after leaving Nigerian soil for a three-week long ITF Futures.
With this result, the Nigerian contingent on the pro-circuit tour will have to find their ways back to the country to start preparations for the Davis Cup tournament as the pair of Christian Paul and Imeh also lost to the number one seed in the team event on Tuesday, albeit after creating a major scare.
The match which could have gone either way, ended 0-6, 6-3, 7-10 in favour of the Zimbabweans, but the Nigerian stars will take solace in the fact that their synergy worked well to nearly create an unprecedented upset in the tournament.
The focus in the coming weeks will now be how to prepare for the team tournament which is billed to hold on clay court in Kenya.
Nigerian Tennis Live will keep tabs on Nigeria’s performance in the competition and make a daily report of how the players are progressing in the tournament.