Bright Emmanuel, one of Nigeria’s talented tennis youngsters, stunned Omolayo Bamidele, in their opening match at the ongoing Top 8 National Invitational Tournament in Lagos.
The youngster who only recently leapt into the top 10 of Nigerian rankings, was quite emphatic during the first match of the day as she won in two straight sets to set the pace in the Women’s Blue Group.
Bamidele, Nigeria’s number five seed, struggled a bit against her younger opponent and she could not survive the onslaught by the rampaging Apapa Tennis Club player, as the first set ended 6-3 in favour of Emmanuel.
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The Rainoil Senior Open finalist would later win the second set and put herself in a good place to top her group and reach the semifinal of the competition.
The second match in the group could not be held because one of the players had yet to arrive for the competition at the time the other match had been concluded.
Blessing Omotayo, the highest ranked female player in the tournament, defeated Mary Udoffa 6-2, 6-2 in the Women’s White Group, while Etoro Bassey had to come from a set down to defeat Patience Onebamhoin in the second match of the day.
Daniel Adeleye won the first set 6-2 against Matthew Abamu in the Men’s White Group, but a resurgent Abamu went on a spree in the second set, storming to a 6-1 win. The final set ended 10-5 in favour of Adeleye, Nigeria’s number four ranked player.
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In the second match on the group, Ikechukwu Iloputa, ranked 5th in Nigeria, defeated youngster, Yahaya Sani-Inabo in two straight sets to top the group. The match ended 6-1, 6-3 in favour of the man regarded as Nigeria’s ‘Isner’.
The Men’s Blue Group started with Canice Abua storming to an early lead against Abubakar Abu, however, the Mambilla Barracks player fought back in the second set to force a match tie break decider.
Despite saving three match points when the match was at 6-9 to tie the game at 9-9, Abubakar could not sustain the momentum as he fell 9-11 to Abua after making unforced errors.
The second match in the group, between Abayomi Philip and Mubarak Ganiyu, will be played on Wednesday morning as Ganiyu had yet to arrive at the venue of the competition.
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Matches will serve off by 3pm on Wednesday, 9 April, 2025, as the competition goes into the business end.
The Top 8 National Invitational Tournament is being sponsored by Mr. Walter Akpani, the Managing Director of Providus Bank.
Nigeria Tennis Live will keep all our readers updated on the developments from the tournament which has the best tennis players from across the country in attendance.