Abuja Open: Enosoregbe, Otu Progress to Second Round

Nigeria’s Clifford Enosoregbe defeated Joe Cooper of the Great Britain 6-4, 6-4 to progress to the second round of the 3rd Tombim Abuja Open which served off on Monday.

Enosoregbe is ranked world no 1203 and he broke his European opponent in the third game of the opening set and repeated same in the fifth game of the second set which proved decisive in the match played on Court One.

“It was a tough match and I just have to stick to my game and luckily for me it worked,” submitted Enosoregbe, who is on standby to meet the winner between unranked Nigerian, Emmanuel Emeruwa and seventh seed, Benjamin Lock of Zimbabwe, who are scheduled to meet today.

Thomas Otu also booked a second round ticket courtesy of a 6-3, 6-3 win over Henry Atseye. Next stop for the former Nigeria number one is a clash with sixth-seeded Zimbabwean, Takanyi Garaganga, a 6-4, 6-3 conqueror of Britain’s Darryl Hale.

Nigeria’s Joseph Ubon made early exit following a 6-2, 6-4 loss to Zimbabwe’s Mark Fynn same for Emmanuel Idoko, who retired at 5-0 down in the first set against Canadian second seed, Brayden Schnur on Centre Court. Fabians Da Paula of Brazil also upsets Adrian Andrzejczuk of Poland 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 to qualify for the second round.

10 more first round singles matches are scheduled for Tuesday with the match between Nigeria’s Sylvester Emmanuel and Alessandro Bega, the third seed from Italy highly anticipated.

The Nigerian world no 1160, is currently on a long-term sponsorship to the Pereriba Tennis Academy in Barcelona, Spain by Nigerian oil firm, Rainoil and much is expected of him as he confronts a player ranked 749 places above him