Team Nigeria came agonizingly close to gaining promotion to the Davis Cup Euro/Africa Group II but were stopped by a rampant and hard playing Namibian side.
Nigerian Tennis Live checks showed that Sylvester Emmanuel had given the Nigerian side something to cheer about when he won the first rubber against Jean Erasmus in two straight sets of 6-1, 6-2 in less than one hour.
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| The boys from Nigeria are gutted to miss out on Davis Cup promotion to Euro/Africa Group II. |
But Christian Paul could not carry on with the momentum in the rubber two of the encounter, as he retired in his Singles game against Tuki Jacobs in the second set, having lost the first to the Namibian.
The Nigerian side’s hopes of securing a promotion ticket from their present group III came alive with some astonishing performances in the first set, but their fight could not secure them the desired win as they lost 7-6 (1).
The second set of the doubles which was prosecuted by the experienced duo of Joseph Imeh and Sylvester was pretty much like the first, but even with their 11 aces against Namibia’s one, the Nigerian side could not break the resolution of their opponents.
2-1 it ended at the Nairobi Club in Kenya in favour of the Namibian side, a result which will be greeted with a lot of disappointment by Nigerians back home.
Nigerian Tennis Live will get the reaction of tennis stakeholders in the country to the recent development.