Karina Opuene was a major centre of attraction during the opening day of the SAPETRO Futures Tennis Championship in Lagos.
The 9-year-old from Bayelsa State is the competition’s top seed in the Girls’ U-12 category but the tournament organizers thought her talent was good enough to see her make an impact in the U-14 so, she was stepped up to play there. And boy, did she deliver?
Opuene charged consistently at her opponent, Success Godwin, one of the more consistent players in the Girls’ U-14 category, and was a constant threat all match. The match was played as a 10-point best of three sets.
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Everything aligned for 2022 MVP at the CBN Junior Tennis Open, as she hit great groundstrokes, returned the balls perfectly, timed her backhand perfectly and only fell short on a few occasions.
Consequently, she took the first set against Godwin who was becoming jittery and was down 4-8 in the second set. However, the youngster could not sustain the momentum, as the former Lagos-based player turned the game around and won the second set.
In the final set, both players continued to even each other out but it was Opuene who continued to attract spectators to the court 2 of the tennis section inside the National Stadium, Surulere, venue of the competition.
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Even though the match ended in favour of her opponent, the Bayelsa youngster had done enough to impress the crowd that was gathering to watch her impeccable performance.
“The girl plays with so much confidence, she hits her balls so well and she is really interesting to watch. How old is she again?” vastly-traveled national wheelchair tennis team coach, Frank Termena, stated on the sidelines.
Godwin Kienka, Director of the International Tennis Academy organizers of the event, told Nigeria Tennis Live correspondent that matches like that of Opene and Godwin’s justify the ITA’s decision to step some players up from their age category.
“You see that we were spot on with bringing Karina (Opuene) up to play in the U-14 category. Look how good she was against Success (Godwin).
“This is what the SAPETRO Futures event is all about, discovering ‘future’ talents and super stars,” the highly-revered Kienka, a former tennis umpire and journalist said after enjoying the tough match.
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Action resumes today as the players continue their round robin matches to determine who tops each of the groups and reach the semifinals of the championship.
The tournament which served off on Tuesday, 26 November, 2024, will reach its climax on Saturday, 30 November, 2024, inside the tennis section of Ikoyi Club in Lagos.
Nigeria Tennis Live will keep all our readers posted on all the updates from the junior tournament which keeps attracting a number of people to the venue.