Nigeria’s Sylvester Emmanuel is keen to end his bad outing at this year’s ITF Futures in Nigeria.
The Spain-based player was beaten in the first round of the Tombim Open and he failed to reach the main draw of the Dayak Open losing in the final qualifying round.
The Rainoil-sponsored player had a memorable outing last year where he reached the final of the doubles paring Franco-Nigerian Calvin Hemery at the Dayak Championship. He also exited the doubles events this year at early stages.
“I’m working hard to make sure that I have a good outing for the upcoming GSL Open Nigeria F3 Futures. I need to be on top of my game because of the high quality of players that are here,” he said.
It could be recalled that Christian Paul and Emmanuel Audu failed in their quest to keep Nigeria’s flag flying at the ongoing Dayak Tennis Championship ITF Nigeria F2 Futures in Abuja as they were beaten in their first round matches.
Paul, Nigeria’s highest ranked player by the ITF at 1443, could not stand the firepower of Swede number two seed, Markus Eriksson as he lost 6-0 6-2 in a match that lasted 57 minutes on Court 1 while Audu, a wild card entrant, succumbed 6-1, 6-1 to Thomas Setodji of France.
However, Moez Echargui of Tunisia was the major casualty in the second round of the Dayak Tennis Championship Nigeria F2 Futures as the sixth-seeded player lost to Aryan Goveas of India 7-6, 7-5.
There were no problems for second seed, Markus Eriksson of Sweden as well as Austrian Maximilian Neuchrist, the fourth seed as they both successfully navigate their second round challenges at the $25, 000 prize-money ITF Pro Circuit event.
Eriksson who was beaten in the final of the Tombim Open by Brazilian Joao Menezes edged Frenchman Thomas Setodji 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-3 while Neuchrist defeated Danylo Kalenichenko of Ukraine 6-4, 6-2.
Also through to the quarterfinals are Takanyi Garaganga of Zimbabwe who beats Tom Jomby of France in a keenly-contested which ended 1-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4.
A forgetful day for French players at the Nigerian capital was completed with the ouster of Remi Boutillier who lost 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 to Suraj Prabodh of India and Jamie Floyd Angele who was eliminated by Dutch Stephan Gerritsen 7-6 (3) 3-0 ret.
