.Inches near top 1,000 in WTA rankings
REIGNING Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Senior Open Tennis Championship
Women's Singles queen, Melissa Ifidzhen looks good to defend her crown at the
tournament serving off on Monday following her performance at the Sharm el
Sheikh hard court event in Egypt.
The Russian-born Melissa, who became a Nigerian player
last year, had her best outing at the $10, 000 tournament last weekend reaching
the quarterfinal.
She defeated Australian Andjela Reljic 6-1, 6-4 in the
first round and also edged Russian Anastasia Nafedova 7-5, 7-6 in the second
round before she bowed to Adina Christian of Romania 6-3, 6-4 in the
last-eight.
Born of a Nigerian father and a Russian mother, Melissa,
who will turn 18 on Saturday, has featured in nine WTA tournament since March
including the ongoing leg of the Sharm el Sheikh tourney where she lost to
Alexander Grinchonsoa of Kazakhstan 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 on Wednesday. She will pair
Lalita Devarakonda of India to confront Qianqian of China and Yulia Kulikova of
Russia in the second round of the doubles billed for Thursday evening.
Meanwhile, Melissa is on the verge of breaking into the
top 1,000 in the WTA ranking less than a year after becoming a senior player.
Her decent showing in Egypt last week saw her move up to 1,009
in the latest WTA rankings released on Monday. She has also moved up in the
doubles as she is now ranked 794.
She defeated defending champion, Christy Agugbom in
straight sets to clinch last year's title in Lagos and also paired Sarah
Adegoke to win the doubles.
She is scheduled to arrive Nigeria on Sunday.
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