Christopher Bulus from Nigeria recorded arguably one of his biggest career wins when he battled from a set down to beat Kris van Wyk from South Africa in a World Group II Playoffs tie in Pretoria.
Nigeria took on hosts South Africa in what was, on paper, a stroll in the park for the home side, and after Philip Henning had defeated David Ekpenyong 6-1, 6-1 in the first match, the spectators were expecting another rout in the second tie.
Bulus, however, had other plans as he battled hard against Van Wyk, saving a match point at 3-5 en route to recording a massive victory for team Nigeria at the World Cup event.
The first set ended 6-3 in favour of the South African ATP 358 player with Bulus struggling to break his opponent. The Nigeria, ranked 1015 on the ATP, however, came blazing in the second set, and took an impressive 3-0 lead before ending the match 6-3.
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In the ensuing final set, Van Wyk was already leading 5-3 and had match point at 40-30, but Bulus, again, showed a lot of resilience and dug deep. He saved the match points and went on a winning spree of his own to tie the game at 5-5.
After both holding serve, the match was headed for a seven-point tie break which could go either way.
Van Wyk started, and held serve. Bulus also held serve to bring the score to 2-1. He took one of Van Wyk’s serves and still led 3-2 to get back on serve. While on serve, he lost the first one to his opponent to tie the contest at 3-3.
After changing sides, Bulus continued to dominate and led to have match point at 6-3. Van Wyk pegged him back but it was the Nigerian who had the last laugh to win the tiebreak 7-4 to a loud eruption from the Nigerian half of the Groenkloof Tennis Stadium in Pretoria, South Africa.
Tomorrow’s ties are two Singles and one Doubles which the young Nigerian players will hope to win and reach the World Group II in grand style.
Nigeria Tennis Live will keep all our readers updated on all the actions in South Africa as they are unfolding.