The Nigerian trio of Ohunene Yakubu, Daniel Adeleye and Seun Ogunsakin recorded wins in their first matches at the ongoing J100 Harare event in Zimbabwe.
Nigeria Tennis Live had reported that the three players were in the Main Draw of the tournament which started on Monday, 29 July, 2024, and they were quite emphatic in their opening matches.
Checks revealed that they all got byes in the opening rounds so their first matches were in the second round of the tournament.
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And in the opening matches, the players secured good wins to boost their chances of reaching the latter parts of the competition which awards valuable ITF points as players advance in the competition.
Yakubu, the only female among the trio, defeated her opponent Kupakwashe Dilia Kanyore from Zimbabwe 6-1, 6-1 to set up a mouth-watering clash against India’s Aishwarya Jadhav.
Jadhav defeated Kaitlyn Leigh Ramduth, the competition’s number three seed from South Africa to reach the third round of the competition. The keenly contested match ended 1-6, 6-4, 6-1.
Ogunsakin, smarting from his final spot appearance at the J60 Harare last weekend, secured a two-set 6-4, 6-4 win against Erick Heyns from South Africa.
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The competition’s number eight seed from Nigeria will now face Sehaj Singh Pawar from India for a place in the quarterfinals of a J100 event for the third time in his career.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s highest ranked player on the junior ITF ranking, Adeleye, had to come from behind to secure a final set defeat of Edilson Jose De Arauje Rosa from Mozambique.
The Davis Cup player who recently represented Nigeria at the Africa Group III Qualifier in Abuja, Nigeria, defeated his opponent 3-6, 6-0, 6-1 to advance to the third round of the Harare event.
He will now play against Taisei Hata, the competition’s number 11 seed from Japan to stand a chance to reach the quarterfinal of the competition.
Nigeria Tennis Live will continue monitoring the activities of the players as they continue their participation at the ongoing Junior ITF event in Zimbabwe.