National junior tennis talent, Marylove Edwards, failed to reach the final of a junior tournament for the first time in four years on Friday after she suffered an upset in the semi-final of the 2017 SNEPCo Junior Tennis Tournament, holding in Lagos.
Edwards, who is a top eight ranked player in the girls 14s in Africa, lost 8-5 to Toyin Asogba, who she had beaten 8-1 in the finals of the CBN Junior Tennis Championship two weeks ago.
Asogba played a determined defensive game as she ran down every shot and placed well to win against the top seed.
Edwards while congratulating her opponent for the victory attributed her performance to time spent catching up with school work after the last tournament. But Asogba attributed her victory to hard work.
She said, “After I lost badly to her two weeks ago, I told myself that it will never happen again. I know she is a very good player and hits hard but I was ready to run for every ball and made sure I got the balls back deep. I think I surprised her a bit.”
Asogba will meet Angel Mcleod in the final of the competition on Saturday. Macleod, who is the defending champion, defeated Favour Moses 8-1 in the second semi-final.
Meanwhile, there will be new champions in the girls 10 and boys 14. In the absence of David Dawariye from the Port Harcourt-based Kodian Tennis Foundation, Aliyu Abubarkar beat Kehinde Abdul 8-1 while Suleiman Ibrahim beat Joseph Fortune 8-3 to qualify for the final.
In the Girls 10, Reya Holmes beat Bright Godstime 8-1 while Serena Teluwo beat Mary Benjamin 8-5 to reach the final.
In the other age categories, Daniel Adeleye will meet Joshua Maxwell in the Boys 12 final, Esther Mashall will face Mary Udofa in the Girls 12 and the Girls 14 will be a repeat final between Timipre Maxwell and Rebecca Ekpeyong.
The final matches of the week-long championship will take place at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club on Saturday.
Copyright PUNCH.
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
Contact: editor@punchng.com
from Punch Newspapers http://ift.tt/2mtvKyj
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment