Following her superlative performance at the recently concluded J60 Abuja event, Ohunene Yakubu has now broken into the top 500 of the world junior rankings.
The teenage sensation who won two legs of the Junior ITF events in Abuja without dropping a set, has now moved out of her ranking position where she had remained for a while now.
According to the recently-released rankings by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the Nigerian youngster is now ranked 456 after moving 73 places on the log.
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She remains Nigeria’s highest ranked junior player on the ITF and she consolidated her spot by moving further upwards on the ladder.
Khadijat Mohammed and Etoro Bassey remain Nigeria’s second and third-highest youngsters on the ITF rankings after putting up impressive performances to reach the semifinal stage of the J60 event in Abuja.
Mohammed is now ranked 1197 while Bassey is now rated 1217th player in the world after taking 374 steps forward.
Bright Emmanuel, who played her first ever ITF events across both legs, also rose further on the rankings, and is fast catching up with Success Ogunjobi whom she defeated across both legs. However, a look at Toluwalashe Agunbiade will show a sign of inherent growth by the Cross River-based player.
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Emmanuel is now ranked 2103 while Ogunjobi is above her to stay at 1876 just as Agunbiade is now rated 1870th in the world junior rankings.
In the boys’ category, Daniel Adeleye who won the boys’ Singles at the J60 Abuja event, remained at the top of the Nigerian log of top junior players on the Junior ITF rankings.
But he moved 57 spots to now sit as 331st junior player in the world, as he edges closer to breaking into the top 300 and subsequently, top 200.
Seun Ogunsakin, who also won a J30 tournament in Tunisia, remains second and is now ranked 529 in the world after taking 81 giant steps upwards. But it was Franklin Jimoh, who moved 156 spots to dethrone Prosperity Okonkwo from third on the log that was quite fascinating.
Jimoh lost in the semis of the J60 event to Mubarak Ganiyu, but he had done enough to push his rankings upwards further. He is now ranked 723 in the world while Okonkwo dropped 64 spots to now stay at 780.
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Mubarak Ganiyu (883), Lucky Danjuma (1886) and David Edwards (2333) are among the players whose new rankings should excite Nigerians the most.
Edwards entered the top ten of Nigerian players on the junior ITF rankings in his first two weeks of playing the events in Abuja, a clear indication that if given more opportunities, might be up there competing against the best.
Danjuma, on the other hand, was quite impressive during the competition and deservedly moved up a number of spots on the log.
Ganiyu, who seemed to have rediscovered his mojo, looks set to be on the ascendancy and can bank on his performances to reach the peak of his talent as he has been known to have.
Nigeria Tennis Live will keep tabs on these players and their tennis developments, and share all the latest activities with our ardent followers scattered across the globe.