Franklin Jimoh has been Nigeria’s most outstanding player in Ghana after reaching the semifinal of the J30 Accra event, Nigeria Tennis Live has gathered.
The Abuja-based youngster who is the number one seed at the ongoing J30 event in Accra, Ghana, has been grinding results at the competition since the first day of the competition.
In his quarterfinal match against Israel’s Harel Tarshish, one of the top Nigerian players on the Junior ITF rankings, was pushed to his limits.
In the final set encounter, his opponent was the better player in the first set, punishing the Nigerian tennis player en route to securing a 6-4 lead.
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Jimoh, however, bounced back in a splendid fashion, racing to a 6-1 win before the pair battled in the final set which ended 7-5 in favour of the Nigerian.
Lucky Danjuma, the second Nigerian who was in action on Thursday, 12 September, 2024, was not so lucky in his match as he lost the encounter in two straight sets.
The most entertaining match of the day was between Nigeria’s Etoro Bassey and Ghana’s Sisu Tomegah. The centre court match called the attention of the tennis fans at the tennis arena.
Bassey, whose initial match against Tomegah was a one-way traffic, was firing on all cylinders against her opponent who had the home support en masse.
Nigeria Tennis Live gathered that the Nigerian player was leading the home player 4-2 in the first set, but she lost steam and eventually lost the set as Tomegah gathered momentum to end the set 6-4.
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The second set was even more terse as both players went neck-to-neck against each other and the match was eventually decided with a tie break which ended 7-6(6) in favour of the number two seed.
Bassey would have been proud of her performance against the Africa Games star as it was a huge improvement from the initial meeting between the pair.
Nigeria Tennis Live will now focus on Jimoh’s performance in the coming matches as he is the only Nigerian remaining in the competition’s Singles event.
He and Khadijat Mohammed are the only Nigerians left in the entire tournament, and will be playing the Doubles finals in the Boys and Girls events.