Marylove Edwards battled really hard in her U-16 Girls Single final at the ongoing African Junior Tennis Championships (AJC) qualifying match on Thursday morning, but lost in three sets (including a tie break) to her stubborn Togolese opponent. The match ended 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (4).
The match which proved to be between the US-based Edwards and the home fans who kept cheering their player to victory, was a pulsating encounter which kept the Nigerian bench on their toes all day.
Nigeria Tennis Live gathered that the former number four ranked player on the national ranking was cruising in the first round, but was closely ‘checked’ by the Togolese who would not let her out of reach. The set however, ended 6-4 in favour of the Nigerian.
Edwards lost her Singles Final to her Togolese opponent in spite of the fight. Photo credit: Google
The home girl would later step up her game, capitalizing on the Nigerian’s errors to set up a 6-4 win and raced to another 3-2 lead in the final set, but Marylove, known for her resilience on the court, did not give up, sending the match to an unprecedented tie breaker.
The Togolese later stepped up her game and won the ensuing tie break in a 7-4 game which turned out to be the final straw that broke the camel’s back.
Edwards will now settle for Silver in the Girls U-16 Singles after so much promise in the early stages of the competition.
Meanwhile, Ibrahim Suleiman, another medal hopeful, already won the first set of his Boys U-14 final match which was ongoing as at the time this report was packaged.
Nigeria Tennis Live will bring you up to speed with the results from other matches in Lome, Togo.