Christian Paul Thursday made maximum use of the slot given to him by his team captain Henry Atseye by edging out national champion, Thomas Otu in the final round robin match 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 to book an ‘appointment’ with compatriot from the Tombim Tennis Academy, Michael Moses.
This is the second year the No.1 ranked men’s player has failed to progress beyond the group stage as Clifford Enosoregbe the No.1 ranked player in the first edition failed to progress beyond the group stage.
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| Christian Paul will seek to defeat his compatriot from the Tombim Academy in their encounter. |
Paul, like Enosorogbe in Group B, won all three matches to lead Group A and would now play Michael who was runner-up in Group B.
Enosoregbe, the immediate past national champion who appears to be in the form of his life with the sole aim of regaining his number one spot, will play surprise runner-up and eight seed, Emmanuel Sunday from Abuja.
In the ladies group matches, Christie Agugbom halted the fairy-tale run of wild card Marylove Edwards but not before the junior star gave her some fright.
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| Michael Moses will be a tough nut to crack for his compatriot. |
Edwards took the first game to love which made the national ladies’ champion to take a deep breath to brace up for a fight – reeling off the next six games. In the second set, she was pushed to 2-2 before peeling off and allowing the junior tennis prodigy only one more game to win 6-1, 6-3.
Agugbom, the defending champion who finished second in her group will now meet Sarah Adegoke who led Group B with three wins. The other semifinal will be between Blessing Samuel who led Group A and Aanu Ayegbusi runner-up of Group B.
The finals of the weeklong tournament is scheduled for Saturday from 4.00 pm prompt.