Lawal, 8 Others Nigerians Battle In Main Draws

The Main Draws of the first leg of the Main Draws of the first leg of the 2012 Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis Championship, which start on Monday at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan with more Nigerians getting set to slug it out with their foreign counterparts.

 Apart from Shehu Lawal and Clifford Enosoregbe who were given automatic slots in the Main Draws' Men Singles, the likes of Onyeka Mbanu, Umaru Balami, Emmanuel Idoko and Abdulmumini Babalola were given wild cards by Nigeria Tennis Federation, NTF in the men's categories, while Fatimah Abinu, Sarah Adegoke, Adeyinka Thompson and Sarah Tazafinmahatratra from Madagascar (Africa slot) were given in the women's categories.

In the qualifiers decided on Sunday, Kehinde Alade upset Murphey Parker of USA 6-4,6-1 to book a ticket in the Main Draws, while John Otu was too much for Japanese Yu Takahashi in their game that ended in straight sets of 6-2,6-1 to get the Main Draws slot.

But Bridget Chidi of Nigeria was not lucky in her game against Indian Aranba Andrady as she was beating 6-0.6-0 in the qualifiers.

Nigerian Abiodun Oyegoke was defeated by Indian Nikita Deshimukh 6-4,6-2, while Ester Masuri of Israel defeated Chinenye Ndid Izuogo 6-0,6-0.

Kamil Capkovic of Slovakia and Russian Nina Bratchikova are the top seeds in the Men and Women’s Singles respectively in the tournament sponsored by FCMB PLc and Etisalat Nigeria.

The first leg ends on Saturday, 20 October.