Players from Ekiti State tutored by Coach Wunmi Ogunsakin almost left the TPPA-UTR Nationals with the most of number of trophies but for Adeiza Yakubu who stopped them in the boys’ U-12 final.
Such was the dominance of the players from Ekiti State at the just concluded national event that their coach was adjudged the most outstanding coach of the competition.
Adeiza, the youngest of the Yakubu tennis siblings, made sure Lagos won four of the five final appearances they made by defeating Peter Festus 6-3, 6-4.
He played some of the best tennis he has played in weeks and emphatically won the match, ending it with a wild jubilation.
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In the girls’ U-12 final, Nigeria’s number one U-10 player, Mofifunoluwa Atilola, was in her element as she sent FCT’s Salvation Alex packing in two straight sets.
The Lagos girl was so dominant that she won 6-0, 6-2 to continue boosting her profile as one of Nigeria’s best junior tennis players.
Ekiti State would, however, take over U-14 category for both boys and girls with some delicious, top of the table delivery against their opponents.
Gloria Samuel started the victory when she pummeled Niger State’s Emmanuella Kwange 6-3, 6-3 before Seyi Ogunsakin put up a fearless performance to see off homebody Nathaniel Aluko of Lagos with a 6-, 6-2 win.
The boys’ U-16 final saw Lagos pick up another trophy when David Edwards from Lagos played the best tennis of his life to fight back against Bolarinwa Marvelous from FCT.
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The match which got spectators cheering at intervals on as a display of two players who enjoyed drop shots but what caught the fancy of the audience the most was Edwards’ one-handed backhand which he proudly and confidently deployed on his way to winning 7-6(6), 6-4.
Cross River State’s Toluwalase Agunbiade, clearly one of the UTR tournament’s most outstanding players, could not manage a win against Aina Goodnews from Ekiti State in their girls’ U-16 final match.
However, even though she fell to a 4-6, 2-6 loss, Agunbiade had done enough to impress the ever supportive spectators inside the tennis section of the Lagos Country Club, Ikeja, venue of the tournament.
The tournament’s top seeds in the boys’ and girls’ youth were expected to both win their matches.
But while Abubakar Yusuf from the FCT, lived up to his pre-UTR tournament billing when he defeated fellow FCT player, Yahaya Sani-Inabo 6-4, 6-1, the same could not be said about Khadijat Mohammed.
The J30 Abuja ITF winner fell short in her match against the one opponent she dreads coming up against, Bright Emmanuel from the Apapa Tennis Club in Lagos.
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Emmanuel came back from being 0-3 down to win the first set 6-3 before concluding the match with a 6-0 win in the second set to complete the dominance of Lagos at the championship.
The winners in all the categories got an educational grant of N150,000 each; runners-up pocketed N70,000 educational grant while the semi finalists went home with N25,000 educational grant each.
The TPPA-UTR National Junior Tennis Classics which started with the regionals in 2023, was thus concluded after a week of tennis fiesta inside the tennis section of the Lagos Country Club in Ikeja.
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