The two Nigerian players who were in action on the first day of the Tombim Abuja ITF Futures have confirmed their places in the quarter final stage of the Doubles event after recording interesting wins in their respective games.
Nigeria’s number one male tennis player, Joseph Imeh partnered Takanyi Garanganga from Zimbabwe to see off their opponents Chilean Fernandez Flores Diego and UK-born Nigerian Obasoto Adebola in two straight sets of 6-1, 6-3.
Sylvester Emmanuel is in the Doubles event at the ongoing Tombim ITF Futures in Abuja as a Wild Card entrant. |
Unlike Imeh, Sylvester Emmanuel, the other Nigerian who made it to the quarterfinals, did not have it smoothly as he had to work his socks out with his partner, Tuki Jacobs from Namibia, to see off the Brazilian and Japanese pair of Diego Matos and Kento Takeuchi.
The players who were given a Wild Card to compete, justified their spot in the game. They lost the first set 1-6, but rallied to take the second set 6-3, before finishing up the game in the final set with a 12-10 win.
The win means that two Nigerians are guaranteed a place in the quarter finals of the tournament as they look forward to getting better than their placing in last year’s competition where Sylvester made it to the finals but lost narrowly.
Nigerian Tennis Live will keep monitoring the progress of Nigerian players in the tournament and keep reporting to our esteemed audience.