Nigerian made headways in the first day of the ITF International Junior Championships in Abuja, with the quartet of Musa Mohammed, Gabriel Friday, Wilson Igbinovia and Canice Abua easing their way to the second round of the two-leg tournament lasting two weeks.
Mohammed, a qualifier, got the better of his compatriot 6-2, 6-1, to set up a clash with fourth seed, Michael Osewa, his compatriot.
Igbinova also advanced in the tournament, formally known as ITF J5 Abuja, by beating Moroccan Habila Haggai 6-0, 6-3, and will surely have his hands full as he confronts second seed, Moroccan, Assil Boussayri, in his next match.
Gabriel Friday and Canice Abua also had good day for Nigeria as they respectively got past Ojenze Azamata 6-1, 6-3 and Gaddafi Yakubu 6-1, 6-1.Up next for Friday is Michael Emmanuel, who edged Benjamin Ayuba 6-3, 5-7, 1-1 (retd).
Emmanuel held a 5-3, 40-0 lead in the second set, but couldn’t serve for the match. The lead would evaporate as Ayuba won the next four games on the trot to take the set and force a third set before he was forced to retire with scores levelled 1-1 in the third set.