Enosoregbe, Babalola crash in Governor’s Cup first round
The main draw of the first week of the 2017 Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis Championship served off yesterday with two of the country’s top players sent packing in the first round of the two-stage $100,000 prize-money tournament.
Nigeria’s Clifford Enosoregbe, who was Nigeria’s best performer in the last edition, lost 3-6, 0-6 to Andrew Watson of Great Britain while reigning CBN Open champion, Abdulmumini Babalola also succumbed 0-6, 3-6 to Johan Tatlot of France.
It was the same story for Joseph Imeh who crashed to the superior power of Serbia’s Ilija Vucic, having lost 1-6 in the first set.
An unmemorable day for Babalola and Enosoregbe was completed on the Lord Rumens’ Centre Court as they were edged 6-7 (2), 6-7 (4) by fourth-seeded French duo of Tom Jomby and Sebastien Tatlot.
With the early exits of some of the country’s top players, the chances of the country to make significant impact in the tournament now rest on the junior players some of whom are making their debut at the big stage.
The surprise package continued as top seed, Karim MohamedMamooun of Egypt crashed out following a 2-6, 2-6 loss to unseeded Stephan Fransen of the Netherlands.
The Egyptian, who had featured at the previous three Nigeria Futures held in Abuja early this year, was an overwhelming favourite to win the match on Court Three, having rose few places in the past week to hit the top of the ranking for the tournament pushing Turkey’s Cem Ilkel to number two. He had no answer to the aggressive play of the 29-year-old player.