SAPETRO Futures: Atilola Reaches Two Finals As Olawale Stuns Ogunsakin
Mofifunoluwa Atilola will be playing the final matches in two different categories at the SAPETRO Futures Tennis Championships which ends on Saturday, 30 November, 2024.
The youngster has been outstanding all week, winning all her matches in the round robin stages as she progressed out of her group as the leader, and she followed that up with a superb performance to reach the final in two different events.
In the Girls’ U-16 semifinal, Atilola was up against highly cerebral and experienced Adesewa Olaniyan, and she ensured she came out of that match with a very important win to reach her first U-16 final in a national event of this magnitude.
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She won the match in a final set duel to set up a final clash against Goodnews Aina, who also reached the final by beating Toluwalashe Agunbiade in a keenly contested match.
Atilola became the only player to reach the final of two different events at this year’s championship after seeing off Karina Opuene, an emerging tennis talent from Bayelsa State, in two hard fought sets during their match to determine who reaches the Girls’ U-14 final.
She will now face Success Godwin in the finale of the competition as she hopes to cop two titles at the tournament which seeks to discover future tennis talents for Nigeria.
In the Boys’ U-16 semifinal matches, Gbolahan Olawale had to come from a set down to defeat hard-hitting and pre-tournament favourite, Seyi Ogunsakin, to reach the final of the event.
The Ondo State player left no stone unturned as he dug deep into his arsenal of tennis skills to frustrate his Ekiti opponent and emerge as a finalist, for the second consecutive time in a space of two months.
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Olawale has now set up a date with Onyekachi Ogumjiofor, whom he had earlier lost to in the round robin stage of the tournament.
In other final matches to be decided on Saturday, Goodluck Tersoo and Yahaya Isa will go neck-to-neck in a repeat of their Boys’ U-14 final at the CBN Junior Tennis Championship a few months ago while Ashim Gazhal and Excellency Oginiba will slug it out for the Boys’ U-12 title.
Another match to watch out for is the Girls’ U-12 final between Opuene and Barakat Ganiyu. Both players have been near flawless all week and Bayelsa-born Opuene who is the number one seed in the U-12 category will want to justify her status during the finale.
Matches are scheduled to serve off by 12noon on Saturday as the new Chairman of the Nigeria Sports Commission, Shehu Dikko, is also expected in attendance as the Special Guest of Honour for the occasion alongside the Executive Director of SAPETRO, Senator Daisy Danjuma as the Guest of Honour.
Nigeria Tennis Live will bring all our readers up to speed with developments from the competition as the grand finale takes centre stage in Lagos.
