Lagos – Top tennis player, Maku Sunday on Monday defeated his opponent, Otu Thomas at the ongoing 14th edition of the Governor’s Cup Lawn Tennis Championships in Lagos.
Sunday is seeded 24, while Thomas is seeded 8.
The match played at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan, saw Sunday edging out Thomas, 6-2, 0-6, 6-4. The defeat recorded the first upset of the tournament.
Sunday to said after the match that he was delighted to have won his first round encounter.
“It was a tough match; my fore hand was tougher than what Thomas expected, he fought back in the second set and won convincingly.
“I fought back in the third set also and made him to make unforced errors and fortunately he couldn’t cope with the pace,’’ Sunday said.
Thomas said that the game was tough and that he was disappointed of losing out of the tournament in the first round.
“It was a tough match; Sunday’s fore hand rally was too tough for me to cope.
“He noticed my weakness and kept working on that until I lost grip of the game and conceded victory to him at the third set,” Thomas said.
In another first round match, Duncan Mugabe of Uganda and East Africa’s Number 1, defeated Nigeria’s Idoko Candy, 6-3, 6-2 to move on to the round of 16.
A table tennis game between Rivers state and Delta State on the second day of the 18th National Sports Festival in Lagos. PHOTO; Kehinde Gbadamosi.
An elated Duncan said that it was his first time to play in Nigeria and that he had anticipated a tough tournament.
He said that he was well prepared for the competition.
“I have heard so much about Nigerian players in the tennis circuit, and I am well aware of the level of competition to meet when I got my invitation.
“However, Candy gave me a tough match but my strategy helped me to scale through, though the results looked easy but it wasn’t,’’ Duncan Said.
Candy said that he fell to the Ugandan superiority in the first set, having woefully lost three straight in the first sets of the game.
“I lost the match in the first set when I was trailing 0-3 in the first set, I couldn’t control the game and struggled all through,’’ Candy said.
In other first round matches, Idoko Emmanuel defeated Omoile Samuel, 6-4, 6-3 to advance to the next round of 16.
Madueke Nonso proved too strong for Iloputa Ikechukwu with a 6-1, 6-1 victory to also move to the round of 16.
Emmanuel Sylvester edged out Okwuidili Johnathan, 6-3, 6-0 to book a second round ticket while well-traveled; Bikom Albert defeated Owolabi Jinadu, 6-1, 6-4 to advance to second round. (N
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