Team Oluyole last weekend made their debut in the NCC Tennis League on a poor note losing 2-5 at home to another debutants Team VGC Lions of Lagos.
Samson Adewale gave the homers a red signal in the first game of the day at the Lekan Salami Stadium tennis courts as he bowed to Lions’ Martins Abamu 2-1.
Samson after losing the first to the former national 18 & under champion, Abamu 3-6 won the second set 6-3 before he surrendered a 3-0 lead in the final set and eventually lost 4-6.
Sunday Okechukwu’s attempt to put Team Oluyole back on the game failed as he bowed to Onyeka Mbanu in a game which lasted almost two hours.
The Abia state-born Okechukwu lost the first 6-7 but claimed the second set 7-5 while Mbanu proved his supremacy in the final set with a 6-4 victory. Former national top 10 player, Loveth Donatus made it a hat-trick for the Lagosians as she dumped Colleen Orji 6-4, 4-0 (scratch) in the ladies’ singles.
The fourth game, men’s doubles between Salami Ganiyu/Kunle Bamidele and Lions’ Martins/George Abamu was stopped after the first set which ended 6-3 in favour of Team Oluyole.
Sunday Okechukwu eventually gave Team Oluyole their first win on Sunday beating George Abamu 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 in a reverse men’s singles.
The Lagosians made it 4-1 when Onyeka Mbanu defeated Ismaila Adesina 6-4, 6-2 also in a men’s singles, while the homers secured their second victory through the men’s doubles as they won the last set 7-6 following the opening day’s 6-3 win.
The visitors rounded off their superlative outing in the mixed doubles as the pair of Martins Abamu and Loveth Donatus defeated the pair of Salami Ganiyu and Bukola Popoola 6-4, 6-4.
Coach of Team Oluyole, Tirimisiyu Ganiyu however, expressed satisfaction with the performance of his players, just as he said the
technical crew would address the flaws noticed in each player ahead of subsequent matches.
“I am impressed with the performance of my players and with what we have seen, our opponents are not super stars. We only need to work harder to get better results,” he said.
Meanwhile, Team Kalotari of Port Harcourt won all their seven matches in Ilorin at the expense of hosts, Team Optiweb at the Kwara State Stadium, Ilorin.
Christian Paul beat Emmanuel Ikakah in the first men’s singles 6-1, 6-3 as Emmanuel Sunday defeated Sunday Emeruwa 6-4, 6-2 while Blessing Samuel outplayed Oluchi Ozurumba 6-3, 6-2 to win the three singles matches on the opening day.
Ikechukwu Iloputa then paired Paul to win the men’s doubles against Kareem Badmus and Henry John 6-3, 6-4 to put the tie beyond the reach of the host team.
The reverse singles and the mixed doubles were a lot closer. Sunday beat Ikakah 6-1, 7-5 and Paul defeated Emeruwa 6-2, 6-3 while Paul and Samuel teamed to edge Badmus and Ozurumba 6-4, 7-5.
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