By Francis Ajuonuma
Nigeria yesterday coasted into the main Davis Cup World Group 11 after defeating pundits favourite Uzberkistan in a keenly contested playoff decided at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club in Onikan.
The Nigerian team of Daniel Adeleye, Canice Abua, Michael Emmanuel, Uchenna Oparaoji and Yusuf Abubakar won the playoff over Uzberkistan’s Dennis Istomin, Khumoyun Suloanov, Abdulaziz Usmonjonov, Ilya Ignatov and Sukhrob Saidov by 3-1.
In Day 1 of the playoff, Uzberkistan shot ahead in the first fixture with Sultanov beating Nigeria’s number two rank, Canice Abua by 2-0 of 6-4, 6-3. However Nigeria’s number one Daniel Adeleye restored parity after he defeated Abdulaziz Usmonjonov by 2-1 of (4-6, 6-2, 6-4) as Day 1 end 1-1.
Day 2 of the playoff was a roller roaster for the Nigerian team made up of purely home-based players as the pair of Canice Abua and Michael Emmanuel outpowered Khumoyun Sultanov and Dennis Istomin by 7-6, 6-4 to put Nigeria in front.
The reversed singles that followed was a battle of grit between Adeleye and Uzberkistan’s number one, Sultanov and after three sets of contest, Sultanov could not match the firing power of Adeleye, who won the game by 6-3, 6-4 to make the 5th game irrelevant as Nigeria won the Davis Cup playoff by 3-1.
By this victory Nigeria will now compete in the Davis Cup World Group 11.
Speaking with the media at the end of the playoff, an elated President of Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF), Victor Ochei commended the players and coaches for making Nigerians proud, attributing the victor to hard work and belief.
”This is a happy moment for every Nigerian and i want to commend the players, coaches and every person involved in this success for a job well done. This victory did not come that easy. It’s the result of hard work. It’s going to be interesting competing in the Davis Cup World Group 11 and I’m assuring Nigerians that we’re not resting on our oars. We’ll continue to work harder and ensure that Nigeria progresses further in the Davis Cup World Group 11.
”One thing that makes this victory special was that all the players featured on the Nigeria are based-home despite outsidepressure to include our players abroad,” he said.
