Quadri on the Verge of History, Plays in Final Today

Nigeria’s Barakat Quadri, on Tuesday continued her majestic form at the 2016 ITF West/Central Africa 18 and Under Circuit holding in Lome, Togo with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Linda Eloundou of Cameroun to move to the final of the point-earning tournament.

The fourth-seeded Nigerian will today meet number two seed, Marion Karine Job of France, who defeated third seed, Maxine Ng of Singapore in the other semifinal.

The fourth-seeded Quadri has been the stand out performer of the three-phase tournament featuring over 80 players from Africa, Asia, Europe and North America which was highlighted by her triumph last week in Lome in addition to her title-winning outing in Cotonou, Benin Republic where the three-leg circuit served off on September 6.

“Quadri has really made Nigeria proud. Her performance in recent years has shown that she has the potential to become a top player at global level. The Nigeria Tennis Federation will continue to support and monitor her to actualise this dream,” NTF boss, Sani Ndanusa said.

Before bagging the win over Eloundou, whose fellow US-based twin sister Manuella is also featuring in the tournament, Quadri dumped out Trisha Vinod of India 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinal while her Camerounian rival shocked top seed, Aesha Patel of USA 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.

Now nearing the end of her one-year ITF scholarship in Morocco, the kid sensation has notched 13 consecutive singles win in the tournament where she is making her debut and a win against her European opponent will make her the first player ever in the history of the West/Central Africa 18 and Under Circuit to have a clean sweep of singles title and quite remarkably, she is yet to lose any set at the circuits.

Quadri is also in the final of the doubles as she partnered Angel McLeod to beat Karine Job and Trisha Vinod. They now set up a rematch with Maxine Ng and Aisha Patel, who triumphed in their meeting in the semifinal last week.
In the boy’s doubles, Christopher Itodo and Christopher Bulus are through to the semifinal where they will face Egyptians Eric Banoub and Mohamed Goma.