Top seeds of the Men’s and women’s singles categories of the ongoing 46th edition of the Central Bank of Nigeria National tennis Championship, Adeleye Daniel and Khadijat Mohammed have been sent packing from the tournament.
Playing in the men’s singles category, Adeleye Daniel who is number one seed in the championship, succumbed to the superior fire works of Emmanuel Michael, who defeated him in two straight sets of 6-1, 7-6 in the quarter finals clash, putting a stop on Adeleye’ big ambition of at least the semi-final stage.
Also out of contention is the women’s singles top seed, Khadijat Mohammed who was sent packing by Aina GoodNews that beat her 2-1 ( 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 ) in the the quarter finals as well.
With both top seeds bowing out out of the competition, the coast is now clearer for any of the remaining serious contenders to claim the title and Smile home with the mouth watering cash prize at stake more so now that none of the defending champions in both men’s and women’s categories are featuring.
The race is now open for new champions to emerge in both categories.
It is also on record that this is the first time in the history of the tournament that none of the defending champions is playing. In other results, Abua Canice beat Yusuf Abubakar 2-1 ( 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 ) while Prosper Okonkwo stopped Mohammed Musa 6-2 retired in the first set to advance TT Friday’s semi-final.
Another semi-finalist is Uche Oparaoji that dispatched Lucky Danjuma with a 2-1 (6-7, 6-0, 7-6 ) win to pave way for Bright Emmanuel 2-1( 6-2, 7-5) victory over Etoro Bassey.
Adesuwa Osabuohien defeated Udofa Mary 6-2, 6-1 to join Friday’s semi- final train.
