TOP seed Sylvester Emmanuel defeated Joseph Imeh to
claim the Rainoil Tennis Open men’s singles title, while Nigeria’s No. 1 female
tennis player, Oyinlomo Quadre defeated
Christie Agugbom in the women’s singles finals held at the Lagos
Country Club, Ikeja on Sunday.
Sportsbiz247.blogspot.com reports that the 21-year-old Emmanuel powered to a 6-2, 6-3 victory over
Imeh for the title – his second of the year so far after his CBN Open triumph
in June.
Two breaks in the opening set put Emmanuel in control of
the match and another in the second set was enough to hand him the title.
 |
| Emmanuel |
Imeh was looking to defend his title, but just couldn’t
match the level of Emmanuel, who claimed the title without losing a set the
entire week. Emmanuel went home with the sum of N500,000, while Imeh got
N250,000 for his efforts.
 |
| Imeh |
16-year-old Quadre, who rose to the top of the
women’s rankings after her victory at the Dala Championship two weeks ago,
registered a 6-1, 3-0 (rtd) win over 37-year-old Agugbom to emerge
champion. She went home with the sum of N400,000, while Agugbom got N200,000.
 |
| Quadre |
Quadre has now claimed all national titles – CBN Open,
Dala Championship, and the Rainoil Open – so far this year without surrendering
a single set.
It’s been a great week for the youngster at the Lagos
Country Club, Ikeja, as she also claimed the women’s doubles title, partnering
Omolayo Bamidele to defeat last year's winners, Christie Agugbom and Blessing
Samuel 6-3, 6-4 in the final. Both Oyinlomo and Bamidele were
rewarded with a sum of N200,000.
 |
| Bamidele and Quadre |
In the men’s doubles final decided on Saturday, Uche Oparaoji
and Godgift Timibra combined impressively to beat Joseph Imeh and Christian
Paul in three sets 6-4, 4-6, 10-5 and claim the doubles title with a cash prize
of N250,000.
 |
| Oparaoji and Timibra |
Managing Director of Rainoil Limited, Dr. Gabriel
Ogbechie, said the organization that has been sponsoring tennis for over 10
years will not relent in their efforts at giving back to the society.
“We believe its money well spent. We need to develop
tennis in Nigeria, football is not the only game that is played in the country.
There are lots of young people who can make very decent living for themselves
by playing tennis, but they can’t do it if they don’t get some level of
support. Sponsor a tournament like this so that players can have the avenue to
showcase their skills and also very importantly earn a living for themselves,”
he said.
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