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After three days of rain-hit play, Thursday’s clear skies brought out the best in Nigeria’s top junior tennis talents at the Zenith Bank Next Generation Masters, a tournament showcasing the eight most promising players set to transition to the seniors.
The standout performer was 12-year-old prodigy Mofi Atilola, who landed back in the country on Monday from an ITF Under-14 event in Zimbabwe and went straight into action at the Masters. Playing as a wild card in Group B’s round robin, Atilola was pushed hard through the first six games by Emmanuella Kwange of Abuja’s Aurum Academy before breaking serve in the seventh game to pull away for a 9-3 victory. She had already booked her spot atop the group with wins over Karina Opuene of Bayelsa and Gloria Samuel of Ekiti’s LEKMAK Academy.
Fellow junior Goodnews Aina also swept her group unbeaten. The left-hander’s toughest test came from Ondo’s Adesewa Olaniyan, who leveled the match at 5-5 before Aina’s power told, closing it out 9-5.
Friday’s semifinals will see Atilola face James, while Aina takes on Kwange.
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In the boys’ draw, Seyi Ogunsakin of LEKMAK Academy was the only player to win every group match, setting up a semifinal against Group A runner-up Onyekachi Ogunjiofor of Ibadan.
Group A top seed Mohammed Amir suffered a narrow 9-8 loss to Yohanna Yakubu but cruised past Ogunjiofor and Mueez Owolabi of the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club in his other matches. Amir will meet Joshua Maxwell of Rivers State in the last four.
Organizers, the International Tennis Academy, confirmed the finals will be held at the newly refurbished courts of the Mainland Tennis Club at the National Stadium, Surulere, on Saturday, starting promptly at 12 noon.
