New Telegraph

OYINLOMO QUADRE: NIGERIAN TENNIS QUEEN PRIMED TO TAKE WORLD BY STORM

….aims to retain cbn open crown

Oyinlomo Qudre is fast becoming one of the best young talents across the world and the teenager will further cement her place as the best female tennis player in the country when she takes to the court today to defend the Central Bank of Nigeria Tennis Open title she won last year.

Tennis is not exactly huge in Nigeria, but in Quadre, the country has one of the finest young talents in the world. Quadri won the CBN Open last year and yesterday proved that she was not in a hurry to relinquish her title when she defeated former two-time champion Sarah Adegoke, 6-4, 6-2 in one of the semi-final matches of the women’s singles category to cruise into the final. Currently ranked inside the top-150 in the world junior rankings, the young gun is on a mission to put Nigerian tennis on the global map. Quadre only turned 17 in May, but she has already established herself as the undisputed No. 1 in women’s tennis in Nigeria. She reached the top of the national rankings on the back of a phenomenal 2019, when she claimed all four national titles. She proved that once again with a rollercoaster ride to the final of the CBN Open again.

Quadre operated on a completely different level to the opposition, dismantling her rivals to win the CBN Open, Dala Hard Courts, Rainoil Open and Vemp Open titles. She also made big strides in the international scene, reaching the quarter finals of the Lagos Open in October.

The teenager added three junior titles to her 2019 collection, winning in Megrine (Tunisia), Cotonou (Benin Republic) and Abuja (Nigeria). Quadre’s run to the last eight in Lagos was the best performance by any Nigerian woman in the tournament’s history. Quadre won over new fans with her Lagos Open exploits, drawing more Nigerians into tennis. Some fans even went as far as betting on the young gun on the tennis betting sites in Nigeria! The Nigerian made an encouraging start to 2020, winning an ITF J3 title in Pretoria South Africa. She attained her best ITF junior ranking of 128th in February, and looked set to reach her target of a top-50 position by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, wild card entrant and United Statesbased Marylove Edwards will be standing between Quadre and another CBN Open title. Edwards, another upcoming junior player proved book makers wrong when she retired seed 8, Osariemen Airhunmwunde, 3-0 in the first set of of their semifinal encounter.

It was also an action packed semi-finals in the men’s singles category where Nonso Madueke, relied on experience to survive the stiff challenge of seed 7, Musa Mohammed, whom he defeated 6-4, 6-2. Mohammed had on Thursday humbled the men’s singles top seed and defending champion, Emmanuel Sylvester, in the quarter-final stage. Meanwhile, last year’s semi-finalist and tournament seed 2, Joseph Imeh, came from a set down to beat seed 6, Uche Oparaoji, 4-6, 7-6, 6-3 in the second semi-finals to set up a final clash with Madueke.

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