ITF Closes Entries 29 September

International Tennis Federation, ITF, has given all players wishing to take part in the 11th edition of the Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis Championship till Thursday, 29 September to file in their entries or forget about the tournament.

The competition, which is sponsored by FCMB and Etisalat, will hold at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan, from 15-30 October as the entries close today withdrawal deadline is fixed for Tuesday, 4 October.

The competition, which annually draws tennis players from more than 40 countries of the world with over 200 taking part, will have 32 draws on the Main Draws and 32 draws on the Qualifying Draws for both Futures 1 and 2.

A total package of $80,000 are for grabs in the championship with women's category gulping the sum of $50,000, while men's category gets $30,000.

The Men’s Singles of the first leg of the 10th edition held last year was won by Amir Weintraub of Israel who beat Karan Rastogi in straight sets of 6-4,7-5, while the Women’s Singles was won by Slovak Zuzana Kucova who defeated her French opponent, Natalie Piquion in straight sets of 6-2,6- luv.

The duo of Amir Weintraub and Boy Westerhof walked over Laurent Rochette of France and Diels Desein of Belgium to win the Men’s Doubles, while the pair of Nina Bratchikova of Russia and Agnes Satmari of Romania beat Anna Brazhnikova of Sweden 6-4, 6-3 to win the Women’s Doubles.

The second leg of the Men’s Singles was won Indian boy, Karan Rastogi, who upset South African Raven Klaffner in a game that ended 6-2, 6-7, 7-5. In the Women’s Singles, tournament favourite, Slovak Zuzana Kucova was stopped by Russian Nina Bratchikova in straight sets game of 7-5,6-1.

In the doubles finals, the pair of Boy Westerhof and Amir Weintraub beat Raven Klassen and Ruan Roelofse in 5-7, 6-4 (10-6) in the Men’s category, while women event was won by Karolina Kosinka and Melaine Klaffner after defeating the duo of Nina Bratchikova and Agnes Szatmari in 3-6,7-5(10-7) match.

Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, the Asoju Oba of Lagos, Chief Molade Okoya Thomas, CEO of Etisalat, Mr. Steve Evans and representative of the Managing Director of FCMB, Mr. Peter Obaseki were some of the dignitaries that graced the closing ceremony.