The top seeds at the ongoing Top 8 Invitational Tournament in Lagos have reached the semifinals of the competition, Nigeria Tennis Live reports.
The players took part in the second round robin matches of the competition on Wednesday evening, and the boys were separated from the men after the round.
Abua, the highest-ranked male player in the competition, defeated Abayomi Philip in a final set match which ended 2-6, 6-4, 10-6 – his second final set match in two-day competition, to advance at the Top 8 Championship.
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Daniel Adeleye, one of the top seeds at the event, also ensured he moved to the semis without stress after defeating budding youngster, Yahaya Sani-Inabo, who snapped his rackets in the course of the competition.
The match ended 6-0, 4-2 (rtd), a result which ensured that Sani-Inabo is now effectively unable to make it to the next phase of the tournament even if he wins his last round robin match against Matthew Abamu.
Abamu, who played the second match against a spirited Ikechukwu Iloputa, could not move past the lanky player, ranked fifth on the national rankings.
Iloputa lost the first set 2-6 before Abamu found a way back into the game with a second set win and forced a match tiebreak decider.
In the tiebreak, Iloputa was already on match point at 9-5, but Abamu, knowing the repercussion of not winning the match, fought hard and saved three match points to drag the game to 9-8. His opponent, however, had the last laugh as he served and finished with an inch-perfect forehand.
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In the last Men’s match of the day, Mubarak Ganiyu, who played a match early in the day (a two sets loss to Philip), took on Abubakar Yusuf. in a fiercely-contested match which stretched into the night.
Even though the players went neck-to-neck in that encounter, it was Yusuf who went home with the maximum points, winning 6-2, 6-3 to stand a faint chance of reaching the semifinal of the championship.
In the Women’s event, Blessing Omotayo, the Nigerian number two player, left no stone unturned, when she defeated another gifted player, Patience Onebamhoin in two sets to confirm her spot in the semis. She won 6-1, 6-2.
Omotayo will now face Etoro Bassey for the decider to know who tops the Women’s White Group after Bassey took out her friend, Mary Udoffa, 7-5, 6-0 in the other round robin match on Wednesday, 9 April.
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Udoffa, who has now lost both of her matches, will slug it out against Onebamhoin, in the final match of the group phase.
Success Ogunjobi who arrived quite late for the championship, won her opening match, 6-2, 6-0 against Gloria Samuel, but could not replicate the same form when she took on Omolayo Bamidele, her Ekiti sister.
Bamidele, reeling from her opening day loss to Bright Emmanuel, gave herself a chance to get back into the championship after getting one past Success Ogunjobi as she won 6-2, 6-3. Bamidele will now face Samuel in the final match while Ogunjobi will take on Emmanuel.
Emmanuel was responsible for handing Samuel her second defeat of the competition, winning 6-3, 6-1 in their match decided inside court three of the FHA Lawn Tennis Club, FESTAC, venue of the Top 8 competition.
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The Top 8 event which served off on Tuesday, 8 April, will reach its climax on Saturday, 12 April, 2025, inside the FHA Lawn Tennis Club, FESTAC, Lagos.
Nigeria Tennis Live will keep our readers updated on the developments and activities ahead of the finale.
