Nigerian players for the umpteenth time failed to rise to the occasion as Joseph Imeh succumbed 7-5, 1-0 ret to Swede Simon Yitbarek, while Sylvester Emmanuel was edged 6-1, 7-6 (5) by Jaimee Floyd Angele of France as the first round of matches in the GSL Open Nigeria Futures 3 were concluded on Wednesday at the National Tennis Centre, Abuja.
Imeh, who is Nigeria’s highest ranked player in the tournament, was stretched by his Scandinavia opponent in a closely-contested first set which took its toll on the former NTF No 1 ranked player forcing him to quit in early in the second set.
After losing the opening set in 24 minutes, Sylvester, 21, puts up a fight in the second set against Angele but it was too little too late as the European edged the set which lasted 1hr 4 minutes..
Of the thirteen singles matches played on Wednesday, plays went with the form book as all the seeded players clinching their place in the second round of the $25, 000 Tennis World Tour event holding in Abuja.
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Prime seed Sadio Doumbia of France puts behind his shock first round exit at the Dayak Open which came after his triumph at the Tombim Open Nigeria Futures 1 as he breezed past Indian Kunal Anand 6-4, 6-1 while another Frenchman Tom Jomby, the Dayak winner, saw off another Indian Suraj Prabodh.
Fifth seed Brit Jack Draper crushed Maxime Mora of France 6-0, 6-0 while Joao Sorgi, the Brazilian sixth seed outplayed Serbia’s Boris Butulija 6-4, 6-3. Dutch seventh seed Neils Lootsma as well as eighth-seeded Ukrainian Danylo Kalenichenko also advanced with 6-4, 7-5 and 6-1,6-0 wins over Arvid Nordquist of Sweden and Vijay Prashanti of India respectively.
Namibian Tukhula Jacobs also progressed with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Czech Dominic Palan.
In some of the second round matches scheduled for Thursday, Doumbia faces Jacobs while Yitbarek battles Draper. Lootsma and Gamble will square off while Kalenichenko confronts Greek Michail Pervolarakis.
Lukmon Ologunro
finixsportsblog 
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