If Nigeria will stand any chance of advancing to the second round of the ongoing Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis Championship, the remaining players in the first round will have to step up their games.
Some of the country’s top players fell like a pack of cards on the first day of the championship, as no Nigerian player could win a game on the day; Clifford Enosoregbe, Abdulmumuni Babalola, Joseph Imeh were all defeated with the latter retiring in the second leg after losing the first.
Even in the men and women’s Doubles, no Nigerian partnership could work, not even the fighting pair of Enosoregbe and Babalola who lost both sets to super tie breakers and had to effectively end their romance in the Futures 4 of the ITF pro-circuit.
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| Thomas Otu will be hoping to get to the second round of the Futures 4 in Lagos. |
Focus will now be on Henry Atseye, Thomas Otu, Wild Card Christopher Bulus and other Nigerians who will be having their baptism of fire today.
Atseye, who made it to the Main Draws through the preliminary qualifiers, has a date with Aryan Goveas; Otu will try to get one past Matej Sabanov, while youngster Bulus will try to usurp fellow African, Alexis Klegou.
In other matches, Christopher Itodo will square up against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, the tournament’s number four seed while budding junior sensation, Adetayo Adetunji and Sarah Adegoke will have tough matches to deal with this morning.
Sarah, the defending champion at the 2017 Senior CBN Open will have to be at her best when she takes on tournament’s number one player, Conny Perrin, while Adetayo, who won the first leg of the Junior ITF Circuit in Benin Republic will try to get past Ayla Aksu, the tournament’s number two seed.
Patience Onebamhoin will also take on Ana Sofia Sanchez, the tournament’s number eight seed in another tough match for Nigerian women on the day.
Nigerian Tennis Live will monitor the players’ performances and ensure a prompt reportage of the events as they unfold.
Can we have an unlikely upset today?