Henry Atseye put up a serious fight in his bid to defend his title at the Rainoil Open Tennis Championship when he defeated legendary Abdulmumin Babalola in the quarterfinal stage of the tournament.
Nigerian Tennis Live correspondent on ground at the Ikoyi Club 1938 where the event is taking place reports that the match was befitting for the quality of players competing for honors.
Atseye eventually won 6-7 (5), 7-6 (6), 6-3 to topple Babalola, who is arguably one of Nigeria’s most prominent tennis exports.
The former CBN Open winner who recently took to officiating tennis matches now stands the chance of playing back to back Rainoil Tennis Finals if he defeats another fierce opponent in Sylvester Emmanuel.
Sylvester, Nigeria’s number two tennis star overcame Iloputa Ikechukwu, the man fondly referred to as Isner, in two straight sets of 6-1, 6-2.
The man fondly called Major will also be seeing to win his third consecutive national tournament after emerging as winner of the CBN and Vemp national Opens.
Nigerian Tennis Live will keep up with the daily report of events from the tournament which is expected to end on Saturday, 17 November.