CBN Tennis: Melissa Through To Final As Babalola, Enosoregbe Bow Out

Russian-born Melissa Ifidzhen continued her impressive outing at the 37th Central Bank of Nigeria Tennis Championship in Lagos by beating Beauty Mcleod to book her place in the women’s singles final where she will meet defending champions and top seed Christy Agugbom.

Ifidzhen, a debutante and a wild card beneficiary produced a scintillating performance and now has Agugbom, who was fortunate to qualify at the expense of Aanu Aiyegbusi Ayegbusi had played relatively tougher opponents in the women’s singles won the first set was forced to retire after an injury in the second set.

Melissa, who is scheduled to head to her hometown in Edo before jetting out to her base in Moscow on Wednesday, is hoping to go a step better than Elizabeth Garos-Pam who reached the women’s final last year where incidentally she lost to Agugbom.

37th Central bank of Nigeria Open Senior Tennis Championship

In the men’s singles, defending champion, Abdulmimuni Babalola crashed to Moses Michael to set up a final match with Thomas Otu who defeated top seed, Clifford Enosoregbe.
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The final which comes up today at the National Stadium Surulere will be graced by top CBN officials as well as Nigeria Tennis Federation members headed by Engr. Sani Ndanusa.

The champions in the men and women singles will get N700, 000 while the finalists will pocket N500, 000.

CBN Tennis: Melissa Powers On, As Top Seeds Qualify

Melissa Ifidzhen clinched a quarterfinal place in the women’s singles of the 37th Central Bank of Nigeria Tennis Championship holding in Lagos after a 6-0, 4-6, 6-0 win over Sarah Adegoke to send shivers down the spines of her rivals at the tournament which is ending on Saturday.

The Russian-Nigerian will now face Patience Onebhamoin for a place in the last four where she could meet either Blessing Anuna or Beauty Mcleod, who both secured quarterfinal spots with 6-1, 6-1 and 6-2, 6-0 wins over Pauline Ebijimi and beauty Ogenekevwe respectively.

Defending champion and women’s top seed, Christy Agugbom ended the dream of Angel Mcleod with a 6-1, 6-4 win to set up a mouth-watering tie with 2013 queen Ronke Akingbade, a 6-1, 6-4 victor over Aminat Quadri.

37th Central Bank of Nigeria Tennis Championship

Blessing Samuel and Aanu Aiyegbusi will clash in the last quarterfinal after wins against Afolarin Akosile and Kelechi Njoku.

In the men’s singles, defending champion, Abdulmumuni Babalola defeated Michael Eludoyin 6-2, 6-1 to book a third round tie with Monday Igbinovia, who out stroked Chukwuma Abba 7-5, 6-2.

Governor’s Cup Lagos tennis reigning champion, Moses Michael also continued with his impressive form as he brushed aside Destiny Ford Da-Silva 6-4, 6-2.

Among other players that secured victories yesterday are top seed, Clifford Enosoregbe, Lawal Shehu, Joseph Imeh, Iekchukwu Iloputa, Henry Atseye, John Otu, Thomas Otu, Emmanuel Sunday, Nonso Madueke and Sunday Maku.

CBN Open: Melissa, Mcleod, Agugbom Cruise On

Russian-Nigerian Melissa Ifidzhen made a winning debut playing in Nigeria as she eased past Henrietta Ogude 6-1, 6-1 to set up a second round clash with number two seed Sarah Adegoke as the 37th Central bank of Nigeria Open Senior Tennis Championship hots-up at the National Stadium, Lagos.

The 16-year-old made light work of her opponent hitting series of winners but admits she had to raise her game if she will have to go all the way.

37th Central bank of Nigeria Open Senior Tennis Championship

“I’m happy I won because historically this is my first match in Nigeria. I hope to play better in my next game,” she said.

Standing between the former Russian U-12 champion and a place in the third round is Adegoke who brushed aside Ebere Fortune 6-1, 6-2. Adegoke, incidentally, is Melissa’s doubles partner and the pair was scheduled to complete their doubles match a tie-break decider against Christy Agugbom and Blessing Samuel on Tuesday evening.

Joining Ifidzhen and Adegoke in the second round is Aminat Quadri, who recovered from a set down to beat Christie Mbadiwe 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 while Afolarin Akosile also matches on following a 7-5, 6-2 winner over Ngozi Dirisu.

37th Central bank of Nigeria Open Senior Tennis Championship

Other players that progressed to the second round of the women’s singles are Kelechi Njoku, Aanu Aiyegbusi, Omotayo Osewa and Agugbom who will meet Angel Mcleod, a fast-rising teenager in the second round.

In the men’s singles, Albert Bikom defeated Jonathan Okwudili 6-2, 7-5 to move to the second round just as Ikechukwu Iloputa made a strong finish to beat Emmanuel Paul after losing the first set. Iloputa won 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.

Emmanuel Sunday, Joseph Imeh and Mohammed Mohammed also advance after recoding wins on Tuesday.

CBN Tennis Main Draw Serves Off Today

After two days of qualifying rounds, the Main Draw of the 37th Central Bank of Nigeria Senior Open tennis Championship will get underway today with no fewer than 40 players listed for action.

Nigeria Tennis Federation Secretary General, Gloria Ekwepmu disclosed that the men are to compete in the round of 64 while the main draw for the ladies is 32.

There will also be a round of 32 for the men’s doubles while the ladies will compete in round of 16.
Ekwempu stated that everything is set for what would be a memorable championship featuring a high number of participants.

“As it has been the tradition, we got a very high number of entries and we are glad that the qualifying matches are almost completed, she said on Sunday afternoon,” she said.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s second-ranked female player Sarah Adegoke is confident she can go all the way to claim the top prize in the singles to help her reclaim her top ranking which she lost to Christy Agugbom late last year.

Adegoke fell to debutante Elizabeth Garos-Pam in the semifinal last year and Pam went on to lose to Agugbom which saw her rise considerably in the rankings.

“I’m in good shape and I’m looking forward to win the CBN tourney which has been my long-term dream,” she said.

The men and women’s champions will receive N700, 000 while finalists will get N500,000

ITF/CAT U18 Championship Melissa, Garos-Pam Bow Out In Egypt

Melissa Ifidzhen’s hope of bagging a medal on her debut outing for Nigeria ended on Tuesday as she fell to Lee Barnard of South Africa 2-6, 7-5 6-1 in the second round of the ongoing 38th ITF/CAT African Closed Junior Championship holding at the Smash Tennis Academy in Cairo, Egypt.

After a one-sided opening set which saw the seventh-seeded South African breaking the Nigerian twice in succession from the third to sixth game, Melissa got her groove back by breaking her opponent in the fifth set of the second game to level the tie but fizzled out in the final set against her more aggressive opponent.

Less than two hours later, Melissa, a former Russian U12 champion, was back in action in the doubles and the energy consumed in her single’s clash reflected on her display as her tag with Elizabeth Garos-Pam could not match the fireworks from the pair of Chiraz Bechri of Tunisia and Ines Ibbou of Algeria who won the second round tie 6-2 6-3.

Bechri and Ibbou were seeded second and had received a bye coming into the match but they were also sent packing later in the day as they stumbled to the Egyptian duo of Hana Mortagy and Sandra Samir who are seeded seventh.

Other qualifiers in the doubles are Rita Atik / Zaineb Houari of Morocco, Rouxanne Van Rensburg / Katie Poluta of South Africa and Habiba Lasheen/ Farah Abd El Wahab of Egypt.

38th ITF/CAT Junior C’ship: Russian-Born Melissa Makes Winning Debut For Nigeria

Russian-born Melissa Ifidzhen began her debut for Nigeria on a winning note on Monday as she paired Elizabeth Garos-Pam to beat Algerian duo of Saadia Belhadj and Sihem Sahli in the girls doubles of the 38th ITF/CAT African Closed Junior Championship holding in Cairo, Egypt.

The 16-year-old, who is accompanied by her dad to the clay-court tournament, showed great composure and understanding with her London-based partner, Garos-Pam, who is also enjoying the support of her dad at the tournament featuring about 80 players from over 20 countries.

They dispatched their North African opponents 6-0, 6-3 in less than an hour in the first round tie.
However, both players recorded mixed fortunes in their match for glory in the singles as Garos-Pam lost narrowly to Mariam Mujawimana of Burundi 7-6 (6), 6-3 in a close contest while Ifidzhen, due to her point haul on the ITF junior rankings was drawn bye to the second round.

Melissa Ifidzhen

Ifidzhen now faces a tough battle as she confronts Lee Barnard of South Africa for a place in the third round. The seventh-seeded Barnard did not drop a sweat as she also drew bye to the next round.

Meanwhile, Nigeria has written to the ITF to effect the country of representation for Melissa as the Muscovite is still having a Russia identity.

NTF president, Engr Sani Ndanusa stated that “Melissa is still being referred to as a Russian player but we have written to the ITF through her father to effect the change which would be done soon.

“We experienced the same problem when Garos-Pam started playing for us as she is depicted as a British player but it was rectified later.”

Togo 2015 ITF/CAT Tourney Nigeria Emerges Champions With 7 Gold

Nigeria once again proved her superiority in West & Central African tennis by winning seven gold and 1 bronze medal to emerge the overall winners of the ITF/CAT U16 Championship which was concluded at the weekend in Togo.

Oyinlomo Quadri was the star player of the double-phased tournament as she upset three higher rated opponents en route her winning the U14 girls’ singles.

She accounted for the exit of the number one seed, Kaita Aishata of Mali 6-1, 6-1 in the semifinal before capping a glorious outing with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Carmene Kpadonou of Benin in Saturday’s final at the Stade Omnisports, Lome.

photo credit ittf.com

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Although Quardi could still play in the U12, she was registered for the U14 in order to garner more points which would aid her featuring in the African Junior Championship Masters billed for Morocco later in the year.

Nigeria’s great showing at the weeklong tournament which featured five countries was highlighted by the country’s winning of the boys’ and girls’ U12 where Mathew Abamu and Toyin Asogba respectively defeated Suleiman Quattara of Cote d’Ivoire and Patricia Wamba of Cameroon 6-2, 6-1 and 6-3,3-6, 6-4.

Meanwhile, Nigeria will also be seeking glory as the ITF/CAT U18 Championship which serves off in Cairo, Egypt on Monday with Russian-born Melissa Ifidzhen leading a strong Team Nigeria.

The 16-year-old former Russian U12 champion will be making her debut for Nigeria at the tournament which will have more than 20 countries in attendance.

Other members of the team are Elizabeth Garos-Pam, who arrived Cairo alongside her dad from her London base on Friday. South African-based Adetayo Adetunji, Angel Macloed and Sunday Emmanuel complete the team to be led by coach Mohammed Ubale.