Oyinlomo Quadre
Top seeds Oyinlomo Quadre and Aanu Aiyegbusi on Friday zoomed into the semi-finals of the ongoing CBN Senior Open Tennis Championship in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Quadre, the tournament’s number one seed, was ruthless in the quarter-final match as she dispatched Ronke Akingbade 6-0 6-1 under an hour.
Quadre who is currently the country’s number one player in both the junior and senior categories had on Thursday dispatched Oluchi Ozurumba 6-1 6-0 in the round of 16.
“My strategy is always to take it one game at a time and I am happy that I am just two steps away from the final.
“I am optimistic that I can defend my title for the third time in a row,” a delighted Quadre, who is Africa’s number two, told NAN.
Also, Aanu Aiyegbusi, the tournament’s number two seed, advanced to the semi-finals after a hard fought 7-5 7-5 win over Jummai Mohammed to put an end to her opponent’s fairytale run.
“It was such a tough match. She’s such a tough player. This means a lot to me.
“I did the best I could to block out the hype. I played my game and fought for every point. First set, she played some really good points at crucial moments.
“I just played my match and tried to win every point,” a clearly exhausted Aiyegbusi said after the game.
Mohammed who came into the main draw through the qualifiers had created an upset when she dismissed the tournament’s fifth seed Patience Onebamhoin 6-2 6-3 in the first round on Tuesday.
Similarly, she had advanced to the third round of the women’s singles after a 6-1 6-1 whitewash of the highly-rated Ohunene Yakubu.
It helped her to set up a quarter-finals’ showdown with number two seed Aiyegbusi.
“It was a great match and an experience for me. She’s obviously a great player. She hits the ball big and trusts her strokes. So, it was a good test to see me defend against that.
“But I think I was reluctant to take my chances when I could at times in the game and stayed too much on offense.
“It’s a learning curve for me at this point in my career and I can only get better by playing more of these kind of matches,” Mohammed said.
Results of other quarter-final matches in the women’s singles category also played today (Friday) saw Oiza Yakubu walk over Favour Moses to set up a mouth-watering clash with Quadre.
Tournament’s number four seed Marylove Edward advanced to the semi-finals after beating Serah Adegoke in two straight sets 6-0 6-3.
She will now take on Aiyegbusi for a chance for the final match.
The championship which began on Monday is expected to end on Saturday.