Nigeria’s rave of the moment, Sylvester Emmanuel, has booked his place in the next round of the doubles event at the ongoing Tombim Abuja Open.
The Barcelona, Spain returnee partnered Verryth Mark from Australia to thrash the Indian pair of Haadin Bava and Gary Tokas 6-3, 7-5.
The same could not be said of the Nigerian pair of Christian Paul and Imeh Joseph, who, though fought very hard, could not withhold the firepower of Clifford Enosoregbe and Henry Atseye.
 |
| Joseph Imeh is no longer in the Tombim Abuja Open having lost his singles and doubles matches in the first round. |
In what was one of the interesting matches of the opening day, the Paul/Imeh combo had taken the first set with a 6-4 win but could not do same in the second set as they lost by the same score, giving their opponents hope.
The tie breaker was the final straw which broke their camel’s backs as the now fired Enosoregbe/Atseye pair ensured victory with a 10-5 win in a match that lasted over one hour.
In the same vein, Aliyu Shehu and Joseph Edili were not lucky in their doubles match, as they fell woefully to tournament’s number two seed, Pedro Bernadi (Brazil) and Christopher Diaz-Figueroa (Guatemala) in a 2-6, 3-6 loss.
The remaining Nigerians in the competition will hope to solidify their chances of making it to the next stages of the competition as it progresses, in a bit to win the $25,000 ITF Futures which is already in its third year.