Sarah Adegoke on Sunday defeated Blessing Samuel 6-3, 6-3 to win the women’s singles title of the Rainoil Tennis Open at the Lagos Country Club, Ikeja.
The top seed raced to a 4-0 lead in the opening set breaking Samuel in the second and fourth game. Although Abuja-based Samuel got two breaks to close the score to 5-3, Adegoke was hitting more winners which helped her to close the set 6-3.
Samuel triumphed on their last meeting at the Dala Hard court in Kano in November but there was no stopping Adegoke,
who started the year with the Top 8 Masters’ title as she broke three times in the second set which also ended 6-3. “I was nervous because I know Blessing has improved a lot. She is a very good player but somehow she did not play to her standard today,” said Adegoke who went home with N350,000 for her efforts in the 10-day tennis tourney.
The men’s singles final between Joseph Imeh and Henry Atseye was still ongoing as at the time of filling this report last night.
Ranoil CEO, Gabriel Ogbechie, has however pledged more support for the development of Nigerian tennis.
“The tournament will help our players get more familiar with clay court because they are used to hard surface and to be the beat one has to master all the surfaces. We are going to continue this way to ensure we bring out the best in our youths,” Ogbechie said.
The Rainoil boss assured that the tournament would be an annual event.

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