Little Ohunene Comfort Yakubu was a delight to watch this afternoon when she whipped Shika Naa Mckorley of Ghana in two straight sets of the second leg of ITF Tennis World Tour J5 Abuja, which served off at the Tennis Complex of MKO Abiola National Stadium, Abuja.
Yakubu, whose dream of advancing last week was thwarted in the first round by second seeded Joody Elkady of Egypt in the first round, humbled Mckorley 6/3 in the first set, and wasted no time in the second set she clinched 6/2 to set a second round battle against fourth seeded Rebecca Ekpenyong, another Nigerian in the tournament.
“I’ll put in my best against Rebecca”, Ohunene Yakubu said.
After dispatching the Ghanaian, she went to court one to cheer up her elder sister, Oiza Yakubu who pounded Sofia Agbabiaka 6/1, 6/1 to cruise to the second round. Oiza was stopped in the second round last week by Romi Cohen, an Israeli.
Unseeded Salamat Haruna also defeated another Ghanaian, Anyema Naa Mckorley 6/3, 7/5 to secure a berth in the second round against top seed, Marylove Edwards of Nigeria who won the first leg last week after beating Romi Cohen of Israel.
Players from eight countries including host Nigeria are taking part in the ITF Tennis World Tour J5 Abuja tournament.
The United States of America, Canada, Israel, Egypt, Morocco and Ghana are participating.
South Africa and host Nigeria make up the participating countries.
The Nigeria Tennis Federation, NTF Secretary General, Dayo Abulude said adequate security have been put in place to ensure safety of the players and officials.
“This is an ITF tournament, and we cannot afford to joke with the security of the players and officials”, Dayo Abulude said and added that some of the foreign players were accompanied by their parents.
