Top male seed player, Enrique Lopez-Perez of Spain, and the female’s number three seed, Conny Perrin from Switzerland, won the just concluded second leg of the Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis tournament.
The tennis tournament took place at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan from October 8 to 22.
The Spaniard, Lopez-Perez made history by winning both legs of the competition in the male category.
Lopez-Perez won the championships four years ago and repeated the feast in the 2016 edition.
The player had a tough game defeating French man, Calvin Hemery, seeded two in two straight sets of 7-5, 7-5, and attributed his victory to determination.
He said that is focus was to earn points in the International Tennis Federation rankings not just the competition’s star prize of 50, 000 dollars.
Perez said: “I needed, that win is not because I’m so anxious for the money, but because I wanted to improve on my rankings so that I will be able to participate in the next grand slam.
“It was not an easy game for me as I fought hard to win in two sets.
“My opponent broke my serve twice in the two sets and I was able to break his own service too, which gave me the victory.
“My opponent is one good player that has a bright future in tennis, he only needs to remain focused.”
The champion said that his toughest matches were against Hemery and Boy Westerhof from the Netherlands.
Lopez-Perez said that he might feature in the 2017 edition of the tournament if he failed to take part in any grand slam.
On his part, Hemery told the News Agency of Nigeria that he was disappointed with his performance against Lopez-Perez in the final of the competition.
He said that though it was his first appearance in the tournament, “I’m happy I was able to play in the final. I hope for a better performance in the 2017 edition’’.
In the women’s final, Perrin, defeated her partner in the doubles event, Tadeja Majeric, from Slovakia and seeded two for the tournament in a tough encounter 6-3, 6-3.
NAN reports that Perrin, lost to Mejeric in the final of the first leg but came back to defeat her opponent.
Perrin said she was happy to have won the game.
Perrin said: “I’m happy I won, I had lost to Mejeric in the previous editions, she is a great player.
“It was not an easy game. I fought hard to come back from my loss in the first leg final.’’
Tunji Bello, Secretary to the State Government, who represented the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, said that the next edition promised to be better.
Ambode said: “We will always support sports and this competition. We will ensure that next year’s edition will surpass this year’s and we are always open to sponsorship.
“This is our own Lagos Tennis Open and we have to see that it doesn’t fall in standards from previous editions which started 16 years ago.’’
Sani Ndanusa, the President of the Nigeria Tennis Federation commended the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club for always supporting the federation.
He also acknowledged the efforts of the players and officials who made the event a success.
Ndanusa said: “I wish to express my profound gratitude to the club and its members for always supporting us.
“I also commend the players and officials who made all of these to happen.”
The 109 players from 39 countries competed in both male and female categories of the tournament.
Winners of both categories won $50,000 each.
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