Gloria Samuel the national 14 & under /champion, sneaked into the semifinals of the Girls event of the
Zenith Bank Next Gen Masters with a nerve racking 10-7, 3-10, 14-12 win over Idowu Lagundoye the No.1 seed in the last match of the group stage.
Given a wild card to compete in the tournament which features the best upcoming talent, Samuel ignored the ranking of her older opponent, hitting big forehands and smooth defensive backhands to get the second spot.
She will take on Etoro Bassey from the GEUF /Academy in Uyo who breezed through the second group without losing a match. The second semifinal will feature Success Ogunjobi of the Aurum Tennis Academy in Abuja and Mary Udoffa of Akwa Ibom State.
In the Boys event, top seed Joseph Jimoh went through the group stage unscathed and will have for his semifinal opponent John Peter from Lagos while the second semifinal will have Henry Aina from Ondo State take on ThankGod Adakole from Lagos.
It was a similar story in the FE&P Invitational Masters for boys and girls 12 & under and 14 & under.
Mofi Atilola, the national 12 & under champion was also given a wild card to play up in the 14s category. The upcoming tennis prodigy beat Emmanuella Kwange, the second seed from Aurum Academy and Favour James from the GEUF Academy in three set matches to qualify for the finals where she will take on Gloria Samuel in the FE&P Invitational finals. The boys 14s final will feature Dubem Amasiani from Abuja and Seyi Ogunsakin from Ekiti.
The FE&P Invitational finals is slated to start at 2 pm on the centre court of the Ikoyi Club tennis section Saturday.
