The Nigerian boys at the ongoing U-18 Junior ITF Circuit in Togo will have their hands full when they take on their opponents today, Nigerian Tennis Live checks have revealed.
Our correspondent had reported on Monday, that about six Nigerian boys were in the Main Draw and were hoping to make significant progress. This was the case for all the boys, except Abayomi Phillips who lost his first round match 3-6, 6-5 (5), 7-5 in a final set fight against Myko Kouame from Cote D’Ivoire.
Regardless of this result, however, the Nigerian players still found their way to the second round of the competition which is now being dominated by the big boys in the junior cadre of world tennis.
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| Matthew Abamu has his work cut out for him as he faces the tournament’s number four seed. |
The Nigerian player who faces the toughest test yet for the day is Wilson Igbinovia, as he would be up against Aariyan Zaveri, an Indian player who is the number three seed of the tournament.
Igbinovia who had a relatively easy match in the first round, will have to dig deep for strength to be able to conquer the Indian who will be playing his first match of the tournament on Tuesday, after getting a bye on the first day of the competition.
Also, Matthew Abamu, who strolled past Souleymane Tinde in a 6-1, 6-0 game, will now have to fight against Sylvestre Monnou, the number four seed from Benin Republic while Emmanuel Dim will have to be focused all through in his game against Aman Patel, seeded five from India.
In the last singles match involving a Nigerian, Emmanuel Jebutu who defeated a lucky loser in the first round, will have to be at his very best to beat Abdoulaziz Bationo, the Ivorian number 10 seed.
Nigerian Tennis Live will keep monitoring the players’ performance and the tournament to report the latest development to our esteemed readers.