Nigeria’s poor run at the 2018 Lagos Open Tennis International
Championship continued on Monday with almost all the country's players in
action failed to make it through to the second round in the Men’s Singles.
It all started with Sylvester Emmanuel’s 6-1, 6-4 loss to
Indian seventh seed, Niki Poonacha.
The Vemp Open Champion, who's Nigeria's brightest prospect at the $100, 000 prize-money event had high hopes of bouncing back
and salvage the nation’s pride but it wasn’t to be, as his Asian opponent
displayed great tennis skills all through the encounter to seal a rather
comfortable win.
Nigeria’s number one ranked player, Joseph Imeh, also
crashed following a 6-4, 6-0 to Skander Mansouri of Tunisia.
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| Youngster Andu defeated his Nigerian compatriot in two straight sets to advance to the second round of the tournament. |
Like Sylvester,
Imeh had a forgetful first week bowing out in the first round and was eyeing a
better performance but his North African opponent proved too much for him to
handle.
It was also a bad day on the court for Emmanuel Idoko and
Paul Emmanuel as they were both beaten 7-5, 6-2 and 6-4, 6-4 by Lucas Renard of
Sweden and Mukhtar Andu of Great Britain.
Andu, 14, who is of Nigerian descent, is about the youngest
player to ever play in the Championship and showed class to defeat the local
tennis star.
In the Women's Singles, Nigeria's Oyinlomo Quadre failed to
repeat her first round form as she succumbed to a 6-0, 6-3 defeat in the hands
of Czech Republic’s Anna Siskova.
The 14-year-old was nation's best performer in the first
week where she reached the second round - a feat which secured her a second wild card to the main draw. However,
there was nothing she could do to stop her more experienced opponent who
wrapped up the tie which lasted 68 minutes.
It was the same experience for the locals in the doubles
with Thomas Otu and Taiwo Owolabi losing 6-3, 6-4 against William Bushamuka of
USA and Isaac Stoute of Great Britain.
Tom Jomby oof France and Alexis Klogou of Benin triumphed
against Abdul-Mumin Babalola and Clifford Enosoregbe.
Michael Michael and Christian Paul were the only locals that
managed victory following their 6-1, 6-1 win over Mukhtar Andu of Britain who
paired Sylvester Emmanuel.
