The 2025 edition of the annual VEMP National Open Tennis Championship was concluded on Saturday, 12 July, 2025, with interesting fixtures in the Men’s and Women’s Singles events.
Daniel Adeleye defeated emerging powerhouse, Lucky Danjuma, in two hard fought sets of 7-6(8), 6-2 to take home the Men’s Singles title while Etoro Bassey was pegged back by a resilient Khadijat Mohammed.
Mohammed, Nigeria’s number one female tennis player, came back from being a set down to defeat Bassey 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 to cement her spot as Nigeria’s tennis queen.
After the weeklong event filled with a lot of emotions and high level tennis competition, Nigeria Tennis Live has gathered some statistics and facts during the championship that you may have missed.
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Daniel Adeleye wins first national title after three attempts
The 2025 VEMP Open championship presented Daniel Adeleye with the opportunity to finally win a senior national title after appearing in three finals in the last one year.
He was pegged back by David Ekpenyong during the 2024 edition and lost the Men’s Singles final at the 2025 Rainoil National Open Championship to ATP player, Christopher Bulus in straight sets.
It is also worthy to note that Adeleye has only lost to Bulus in national championships in 2025 as he has remained unbeaten against every other opposition in the country all year, including Nigeria’s current top player, Canice Abua (twice within this period).
Adeleye has also formed a formidable partnership with Abubakar Yusuf, with whom he has won all the national Men’s Doubles titles in the last two years.
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Etoro Bassey reaches first ever final at Senior level
The Akwa Ibom-based tennis sensation was able to reach the podium in the Women’s Singles event after an amazing run at the 2025 VEMP Open championship.
Bassey, one of Nigeria’s current top seeds, fought her way to the final after defeating the number two seed, Blessing Omotayo and emerging tennis sensation, Suwa Nenrot in difficult matches.
Despite not winning the title, the GEUF Tennis Academy star player will be proud of her achievements in the Singles event.
She is also one of Nigeria’s finest Doubles partners anyone can dream of as she partners with Omotayo to win virtually every tournament they participate in.
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Suwa Nenrot is the only qualifier to reach the Semis
Jos-based Suwa Nenrot gave the 2025 VEMP Open championship a different energy with her fairytale run into the semis of the tournament.
She started the competition from the qualifying rounds and fought her way to the semis of the event after defeating incredible good players.
And even though she lost in the semifinals, she did not go down without a fight. The VEMP Open championship may have opened Nigerians up to another beastly player.
Among the players to feel the pain of defeat from the youngster are Stella Udokwelu and Omolayo Bamidele, the tournament’s number three seed.
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Khadijat Mohammed wins VEMP Open in first final
Despite winning three national titles already, lanky Khadijat Mohammed had yet to lay her hands on the VEMP Open Championship Women’s Singles trophy and she did that in a spectacular fashion, coming from behind.
Mohammed reached her first ever VEMP Open final and won the first time of trying after already winning the Dala Championship back-to-back, and a hard fought win at the 2025 Rainoil Championship- another first for her.
With this win, the teenage tennis sensation may be on her way to wining every national tournament she participates in over the next couple of years.
And to reach the final, Mohammed did not drop a set against any of her oppositions, and had to battle through the match and force a win by coming from being a set down.
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Lucky Danjuma is underrated
Lucky Danjuma played a spirited Men’s Singles finale against an unbeaten Daniel Adeleye and made this opponent sweat for every point he made en route to winning the event.
Before the finale, it was predicted that Adeleye would defeat Danjuma in straight sets without the youngster winning a game, but it turned out that he not only won a game, he dragged the first set to a tiebreak decider.
After winning four Junior ITF titles in four finals, Danjuma announced himself as a dangerous player to watch out for, and he proved this, again, with his impeccable fighting spirit during the competition in Abuja.
He outplayed a couple of top players en route to reaching the final, especially the number two seed and former Nigerian number one, Uche Oparaoji, in the semifinal.
As the second week of the national championship is set to serve off, Nigeria Tennis Live will keep tabs on more activities from the players and the tournament.