14th October, 2013
As hostilities begin in the main draws of the first leg of the 13th Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis Championship, all eyes will be on Nigerian players to see how far they can go in the Etisalat/FCMB-sponsored competition this year.
Seven of the local players and one Senegalese have been given wild cards to feature in the main draws which begin today at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan. Samuel Omoile, Joseph Imeh and Umaru Balamin as well as Daodu N’Diaye from Senegal will join other Nigerians who fought their way through qualifying matches that were decided at the weekend.
In the female category, the likes of Sarah Adegoke, Jumoke Akingbade, Blessing Samuel and US-based Idia Amen will play in the main draws.
Other players that qualified for the main draws are Christian Paul, John Otu, Abdullahi Hamidu and Loveth Nnadozie.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s teenage sensation, Sarah Adegoke, made a faltering in her match early today as she was defeated by China’s Xi-Yao Wang, 0-6, 0-6 in the first round of Women’s Singles.
Adegoke, who was making her debut at the Governor’s Cup, could not withstand the firepower of her more experienced Chinese.
Her strokes were poor and everything seemed to be working against her as Wang took advantage of Sarah’s frail appearance to quickly rout the wild card Nigerian player.
In the Men’s Singles, Nigeria’s Edward Christopher Anefu proved less of a match for tournament number five, Croatian Ante Pavic, as the latter crushed the Nigerian, 6-2,6-1 in two straight sets.
“I’m happy to say that the camping organised for the players was not in vain as some of the players made it through the qualifying matches to the main draws. During the camping, I worked on them on consistency and ability to endure rigorous matches. I think we should expect much from them,” he said.
—Damilare Okunola