Two weeks of tennis action will end on Saturday with the Governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, and the Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, gracing the closing ceremony of the 15th Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis Championship.
The finals of Futures 4 (men and women’s singles) will be played at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan, with the women’s final coming up by 1pm, followed immediately with the men’s final.
Governor Ambode, who is the Chief Host and the Special Guest of Honour, will lead other members of Lagos State Executive Council to the closing ceremony and final matches of the Governor’s Cup Tennis, the first to be staged since he assumed office last May.
The Governor’s Cup, since inception during the tenure of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has been a tournament organised to celebrate the sitting governor of Lagos State.
Ambode when he assumed office also magnanimously agreed to sustain the ITF-approved tournament.
Other guests expected at the final ceremony include the President of Nigeria Tennis Federation, Engr. Sani Ndanusa; his board members; President of the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Barrister Rotimi Edu; and members of the club; officials of sponsor company, LASACO; school children; and other tennis pundits.
The International Tennis Federation pro circuit is played for two weeks with this year’s Futures 3 was won by Aldin Setkic from Bosnia (Men’s Singles) and 17-year-old Tessah Andrianjafitrimo from France (Women).
Meanwhile, the battles for who become the men and women champions in Futures 4 got hotter and interesting in the matches of the quarter final played on Thursday.
Futures 3 women’s singles winner could not make it to the final of the second leg as the number 7th seed French lady, Andrianjafitrimo, was stopped by Julia Terziyska of Bulgaria, number two seed in 6-2, 6-3 match.
Slovakia Tadeja Majeric, loser finalist in Futures 3, who won one of the legs in 2013 edition, however, won her game against Prarthana Thombare of India in straight set of 6-2,6-2.
Top seed Valeriya Strakhova from Russia beat Ulrikke Eikeri from Norway in straight set of 6-2,6-0, while Conny Perrin from Switzerland stopped the ambition of the Chinese Xiaoxi Zhao in 6-2,6-0 match.
In the men’s singles, top seed, Bosnia’s Aldin Setkic, won his match against Karim-Mohammed Maamoun of Egypt 6-2, 7-6 (5).
Second seed, South Africa’s Harris Llyod, beat France’s Fabien Reboul 6-3, 6-4.
Zimbabwe player, Takanyi Garanganga, defeated Duncan Mugabe of Uganda 6-2, 6-1, while The Netherlands star, Antal Van Der Duim, defeated Sadio Dolumba of France 6-1, 6-4.
In the semi final pairings, Setkic will play against Garanganga, while Van der Duim will slug it out against Harris in the men’s game. Strakhova and Majeric will play one of the semi final matches in the women’s singles, while Perrin and Terziyska will play the second semi final game.
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