Nigerian teenager, Clifford Enosoregbe proved critics wrong at the ongoing 10th Governorâ€s Cup Lagos Tennis Championship when he upset the winner of Futures 1, Israeli Amir Weintraub, who is the tournament number 3 seed.•RETURN... Clifford Enosoregbe of Nigeria returns a serve during yesterday's Gov's Cup Future 2 match against top seed Amir Wentraub of Israel. Amir, who won the Futures 1 trophy, lost yesterday's match 2-6, 6-7 to Clifford. Inset is Amir. Photo: Akin Farinto.
Clifford, who is ranked number 1123 in the world was too hot for Weintraub, who is number 352 in the tension-soaked match that ended in straight sets of 6-2, 7-6(1).
Right from the beginning of the first round match of the Etisalat/FCMB sponsored tourney, the Edo State born Clifford, who came to the Governorâ€s Cup after a tour of East Africa showed the champion stuff in him. The player received a loud ovation from the fans at the end of the match.
“Iâ€m glad to win this match,†an elated Clifford told P.M.Sports after the pulsating encounter. “Nobody here today would have thought that I could win the match because of the pedigree of my opponent, who won the Futures 1 trophy. Itâ€s always good to face a daunting task with determination and Iâ€m happy that my focus paid off,†he said but a dissapointed Amir declined comments.
Chairman of the Governorâ€s Cup Technical Committee, ex-international Thompson Onibokun said: “This was what Iâ€ve been anticipating in the second leg of this championship because having performed poorly in the first leg; I knew our players would bounce back in the second leg. With this victory, my believe is that Clifford will be full of confidence in his next match and I wonâ€t be surprised if he goes far in the tourney. Iâ€m happy that our boys are living up to expectations this week.â€
In other results of the first round matches played yesterday, Cliffordâ€s brother, Kingsley, who qualified for the Main Draws through the qualifiers, was too hot for South African Steffen Solomon, who is ranked number 1422 in another straight set of 6-2,6-4. While another home boy Samuel Omoile beat Russian Alexei Filenkov 7-5, 6-4.
Clifford faces Ivorian Valentin Sanon in todayâ€s second round match.
