The Nigerian women’s team have qualified for the semifinals of the BNP Paribas World Team Cup African Qualification event despite their loss to team Morocco.
Morocco lost the first rubber 1-6, 6-4, 7-5 to Kemi Oluwasegun but won the second against Kafayat Omisore in a 6-2, 6-2 game.
In the deciding doubles, however, Morocco and Nigeria battled it out on the centre court of the tennis section inside the National Stadium in Abuja.
Morocco took the first set, Nigeria took the second and in the deciding 10 match points tie break, Morocco had the upper hand, handing Nigeria a 7-6(3), 3-6, 10-8 win.
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The match which lasted 3hrs 16mins was the decider for who tops Pool B which has Morocco, Nigeria and Ghana, and the result confirmed just that.
Although the draw is yet to be concluded by the ITF, chances are that Nigeria will now play against South Africa in the semifinal playoffs while Morocco will come up against Tanzania in the second fixture.
Coach Frank Termena, the Nigerian coach, believes that his players are still in the competition for a reason and will fancy their chances of reaching the World Team Cup final playoffs on Sunday, 11 February, to determine who represents Africa in Turkey.
The round robin matches were all concluded on Friday evening and all the teams have been ranked according to their performances.
Below is a break down of the pools and the placing of each team:
MEN:
POOL A
1. MOROCCO
2. RWANDA
3. MAURITIUS
POOL B
1. SOUTH AFRICA
2. TANZANIA
3. KENYA
POOL C
1. NIGERIA
2. EGYPT
3. CAMEROON
WOMEN:
POOL A
1. MOROCCO
2. NIGERIA
3. GHANA
POOL B
1. SOUTH AFRICA
2. TANZANIA
3. KENYA
4. EGYPT