Spanish youngster Oriol Alvarez Velis secured his spot in the J30 Abuja final after defeating Nigerian top seed, Franklin Jimoh, in their semifinal match.
The 15-year-old Spaniard who lost in the semifinal of the first leg of the tournament, seemed unbeatable from the start of the match as he went all ballistic in the first set with a 6-3 win before succumbing to a 2-6 loss in the second set.
He would later send the Nigerian number one seed packing in the final set as they battled to a tiebreak before winning 7-6(1). Oriol will now be hoping for his first ever Junior ITF title when he stars against Lucky Danjuma in the Boys’ Singles final.
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Danjuma did not have so much problem defeating his semifinal opponent, Ezekiel Azi, as he raced to a 6-2, 6-1 win to secure his fourth consecutive appearance at the Junior ITF finals.
In the Girls’ event, the top seed, Ohunene Yakubu, was also sent packing by Germany’s Luise Luczac, in what was a major upset at the championship.
The loss for Yakubu represents her second consecutive loss in the semifinal of the J30 Abuja event, after losing the semifinal of the first leg to Habiba Habib from Egypt.
Nigerians should have been on red alert when Luczac defeated Etoro Bassey 4-6, 6-0, 6-0 in the quarterfinal match on Thursday, as the German went on the rampage again, against the number one seed this time, winning 6-4, 6-1.
The 15-year-old, playing her third official competition on the Junior ITF Circuit, will now play the Girls’ Singles final against Success Ogunjobi, who reached her second consecutive J30 Abuja final after defeating Khadijat Mohammed.
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Mohammed, Nigeria’s number one female player, had lost the first set 0-6 and tried to stage a comeback in the second before being handed a 5-7 defeat by Ogunjobi who looks to be in a rich form at the competition.
Tomorrow’s final matches in the male and female categories promise to be a top-of-the-table clash among some of the best junior tennis players around.
Nigeria Tennis Live will keep all our readers updated on the outcomes of the matches and share all the updates, developments from the matches as well.