Nigeria Content Online

At centre court of
the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, venue of the 10th edition of the Governor’s
Cup, Karan Rastogi of India brought down Laurent Rochette in straight
sets of 6-2, 6-2 to move to the semi-finals.

Right from the
beginning of the game, fans could see that the more composed Rastogi
had the upper hand with Rochette allowing the pressure to get to lose
his serves. The second set was a relatively easy win with Rastogi
getting opportunity to throw the first salvo. A lot of drop shots from
Rochette also gave him an upper hand and he finished the game in a
relatively short time. Speaking on his victory, Rastogi said he was
happy to have won. “It may have looked relatively easy but I tell you,
he was strong. He is even a better seeded player than I am but see the
way it ended. I tried my best and I made use of all the opportunities
that came my way.” On who he thinks is the best; Rastogi said:
“Everyone is evenly matched. All the players I have had opportunity to
face have all been challenging but I think a little bit of luck and God
helps.”

Sad outing for Nigerians

For a tournament
that is taking place in Nigeria, the Nigerians have all had a poor
showing with the last of them crashing out on Wednesday. Fatima Abinu,
top Nigerian player fell to Slovakia’s Zuzana Kucuva, the number one
seed in the women singles. In the men’s category, Abdulmumini Babalola,
also lost out to South Africa’s Raven Klaasen, 7-5, 6-2. Boy Westerhof
of Holland sent Clifford Enosoregbe out in a match that ended 6-3, 6-0.
Also Samuel Omoile could not survive the heat from the tournament
number one male player, Desein Niels from Belgium. He was beaten 6-3,
6-2. In another encounter, Isreali, Amir Weintraub, stopped Candy Idoko
in their match, which ended 6-2, 6-0; while his compatriot, Blessing
Samuel, was defeated by Melanie Klaffner of Austria 6-1, 6-0.

Westerhof crashes out, Kucuva moves on Boy Westerhof’s dream of
winning the first leg of the 10th Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis
Championship ended yesterday as he was betean 6-4, 2-6,4-6 by Weintraub
in one of the quarter final matches. In another match, Desein justified
his rating in the Etisalat/FCMB sponsored championship as he out
stroked Indian Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan in straight set of 7-6(6),6-4
to move to the semi final scheduled for Friday. South African Raven
Klassen beat Melaine Klaffner of Isreal 6-1, 7-5. In the women’s event,
Slovak lady, Zuzana Kucova showed her prowess to repeat the feat she
recorded at the Governor’s Cup last year, as she secured a place in the
semi-final by defeating Germany’s Karolina Nowak in straight set of
6-4,6-3.