Femi Solaja
Unseeded Nigeria’s Barakat Oyinlomo Quadre was the hero of the day at the ongoing Lagos Open Tennis tournament at the Lagos Lawn Tennis court after the brilliant win against number eight seed, Serbian Curovic Tamara who could not continue the second round match in the second set.
Against the form book, the Nigerian with full support from the stand was in her best performance as she dominated play before Tamara signaled to the referee that she could not continue the match, Qaudre had already won the first set 6-2. The highly rated Tamara complained of fever thus made the match to be called off and the Nigerian land in the next round which will continue this morning at the same venue.”It’s amazing winning this match and qualified for my first-ever quarter final of the Lagos Open Tennis. It’s like a dream come true for me because before this competition, I had it at the back of my mind that I want to get to at least the quarter final stage of this year tournament. I was a set away from achieving this last week during the first leg as I lost my second round match in the third set. Though disappointing, I had to brace up for the challenges ahead.“I am so happy that I achieved my set target for the Lagos Open this year and going forward, I am aiming higher for better performance that will get me to play in the final. “I’m so glad with the motivation I received from my parent and my coach. My dad encouraged me that if Sada Nahimana, the Burundian lady, who won the first leg Women’ Singles, who is incidentally my roommate at the ITF Centre in Morocco, could get to this height, I too could also achieve that,” Quadre said after the heroic feat last night.In other top matches, the ambition of winner of Women’s Singles in the first leg, Sada Nahimana to repeat the feat of winning the tournament back to back was cut short abruptly as the unseeded Burundian star lost gallantly to tournament number 4 seed, Slovenia’s Kolar Nastia.
In another development, Nigerian youths are to enjoy moments of training and tournament at the event courtesy of the partnership between the Local Organising Committee (LOC) and Genesis Tennis Academy, Arizona, USA.Convener of the youth clinic, former Nigerian tennis champion, Jonathan Igbinovia told journalists that the clinic and mini tournament became very important in order to bring back the lost glory of the sport as was in his playing days in Nigeria before he retired.According to him, the LOC of the Lagos Open Tennis is supporting the project by creating a platform for the youth to train and compete during the ITF World Tour.“About 80 youths will take part in the clinic, which will be in two stages. The first stage will be a two-day training between Thursday and Friday, while a mini tournament for these youths to showcase what they have learnt will hold between Saturday and Sunday.
They will be given prizes and we are planning to expose winners to international training at the Genesis Tennis Academy in Arizona.
