The third leg of the ITF Futures in Nigeria which will serve off on Monday, 15 May, will be featuring a minimum of seven Nigerian players in the Main Draw, Naija Tennis Special checks have revealed.
This is an improvement from the paltry four that played in the first round of the just concluded Dayak Tennis Championship in Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital.
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| Nigerian players will be fired up for action hen hostilities at the GSL Open serves off on Monday, 15 May, 2017. |
Sylvester Emmanuel leads the charge for victory for the Nigerian stars, and he is joined by Clifford Enosoregbe, Henry Atseye, Joseph Imeh, Thomas Otu, Christian Paul and Joseph Aimabua Iyorovbe.
While Sylvester and Enosoregbe were automatic inclusions in the Main Draw, Iyorovbe and Atseye had to go through the preliminary qualifiers while Otu, Imeh and Paul were Wild Card entrants.
Sylvester will tackle Victor Durasovic from Norway, Enosoregbe will have his hands full in a cracker against Egypt’s Hossam Karim just as Atseye will battle Christopher Diaz Figueroa from Guatemala in one of the first round fixtures involving Nigerians.
In other matches, Imeh will face number seven seed and fans favourite, Takanyi Garanganga from Zimbabwe, Paul and Kunal Anand from India will trade tackles, Otu will have to step up his game as he plays against number three seed, Alessandro Bega from Italy and Iyorovbe against fellow qualifier, David Argaskinski from Poland.
Of the seven players, only Henry, Otu, Paul and Iyorovbe will be in action on Monday while others will wait until Tuesday before tasting action of any sort.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s hopes of having a player win the Dayak Open were dashed after Calvin Hemery (born to an Edo father), lost the final of the Men’s Singles after being upset by tournament’s number four seed, Pedja Krstin from Serbia in two straight sets of 6-2, 6-4.
Hemery who is the number one seed at the GSL will be hoping for a change of fortune when action resumes in the third Futures event on Monday.