Christian Paul and Emmanuel Audu failed in their quest to keep Nigeria’s fl ag fl ying at the ongoing Dayak Tennis Championship ITF Nigeria F2 Futures in Abuja as they were beaten in their first round matches on Tuesday.
Paul, Nigeria’s highest ranked player by the ITF at 1443, could not stand the fi repower 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 Th omas Setodji of France.
Brazilian Joao Menezes continued his impressive display by shocking third seeded Egyptian KarimMohamed Maamoun 6-3, 6-0 on Centre Court paving the way for the unseeded South American to be in the hunt for a second straight title having won the Tombim Open Nigeria F1 futures last week.
Austrian fourth seed, Maximilian Neuchrist also advanced to the second round with a 6-3, 6-3 triumph over Dutchman Jelle Sels same for sixth seed, Moez Echargui of Tunisia who bagged a 7-6, 6-2 win over Alexis Klegou of Benin. Indian Suraj Prabodh edged fellow qualifier, Mirko Martinez of Switzerland 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 but another Indian Arjun Kadhe, the fifth seed, was beaten 6-0, 6-3 by Tom Jomby of France.
In the longest match of the day, Stephan Jerritsen of the Netherlands needed 2 hours and 19 minutes to scale the hurdle of Diego Matos of Brazil, a wild card benefactor, with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 scoreline. Frenchman Floyd Angele edged Ronniee Schneider of the USA 4-6, 6-1, 7-5in a match just a minute shy of two hours to also progress to the second round which holds on Wednesday.
In the doubles, Dutch duo of Gerristsen and Sels progressed to the quarterfinal at the expense of top-seeded Sabanov brothers, Ivan and Matej following a 6-3, 3-6, 10-8 win
