Nigeria’s junior tennis sensation, Mofifunoluwa Atilola, has reached the semifinal of the ongoing ITF?CAT African U-14 Championship in Tanzania.
The Lagos-based national U-14 champion left Nigeria for the competition last weekend and has won all her matches since the first leg of the tournament served off in Dar Es Salaam, the country’s capital.
Atilola, unseeded for the competition, defeated Chloe Hayes, her opponent from Zimbabwe in the first round with a resounding 6-1, 6-0 victory before taking on Abicha Ogamba, the tournament’s number four seed from Kenya.
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The Nigerian tennis youngster took the first set 6-1 against the Kenyan, but her more experienced opponent rallied to win the second set 6-4 to set up an interesting third set which was decided by a tiebreak.
The African no 75 ranked U-14 tennis player had to dig deep to sustain the pressure against her opponent to emerge victorious with a 10-8 win and land in the quarterfinal stage of the competition for the first time ever.
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The quarterfinal match between Nasma Jumanne Gallawa from Tanzania and the Nigerian tennis prodigy ended 6-0, 6-1 in favour of Atilola, ranked 30 in the senior national rankings in Nigeria.
All eyes are now on the youngster who has taken the Tanzanians and other spectators in Dr Es Salaam by storm and has continued to show how much talent she is.
Nigeria Tennis Live will also keep our readers and followers updated on latest developments ahead of the end of the first leg of the championship.