Two nine-year-olds, Murewa Egbeyemi and Malcom Osaji, put up a performance of a life time in a decisive round robin match in the boys 10 category of the CBN Junior Championship currently going on at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club.
The match started at a steady pace but half way through the pro set the match turned into a survival match with both players showing excellent stroke production, determination and tactical knowledge that belied their age.
Games where even until 5-5 where Osaji broke and kept serve to lead 7-5 but Egbeyemi put together a string of brave placements to win four straight games to win the match. It was no surprise that several family members went down to the court to congratulate the two lads whose performance point to a future rivalry that will last many years if the both stay with the sport.
Egbeyemi will take on Joel Prosper while Osaji will play against Mayo Orungbeja Thursday to decide the final placement in the category.
Fego Ayetuoma appears set to run away with the Girls 12 title after beating Ndidi Osaji and Sarah Adisa in her last two matches.
Ayetuoma will have to defeat Vanessa Inyang in her last match to bag the winner’s trophy.
In all the other categories, all the seeded players are on course for semifinal placements with the most talked about match-up for Thursday being the Boys 14 Group A encounter between Seun Ogunsakin, the defending champion and Jade Nzewi, a 13 year old who has been in a tennis academy in France for over a year before the pandemic
The tournament is slated to end on Saturday with closing ceremonies starting at 3. 00 pm. .
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