The only Nigerian standing in the ongoing second leg Lagos Open Tennis, Barakat Quadre, has crashed out of the tournament.
Quadre was unable to survive the superior power of her Ukrainian opponent, Strakhova Valeriya, in their quarter-final match decided on Friday at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan.
Morroco-based Quadre had broken a record as the only Nigerian woman player to have qualified to the quarter-final level of the ITF World Tour in Lagos on Thursday.
Despite playing a determined game against the Ukrainian, the Nigerian could not proceed to the next round of the competition.
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Quadre earned a 7-5 win in the first set – an early break that she failed to sustain and consolidate on.
Valeriya, however, forcefully came back to take the game out of Quadre as she won the remaining two sets – 6-3, 6-1 in a pulsating match that lasted two hours 35 minutes.
In other quarter-final matches in the women’s singles, top seed Mendez Seone from Austria lost 6-4, 0-6, 0-6 to sixth seed Bhatia Riya.
The fifth seed, Bhosale Rutuja from India also upset Samir Sandra from Egypt, who is the tournament’s number three seed in a straight set of 6-2, 6-0 to book a semi-final ticket.
Brazil’s Luara Pigozzi who was runner up in the final last week failed to make it to the semis as she lost to Nastja Kolar from Slovenia 2-6, 6-5, 5-7.
In the men’s singles, Zimbabwe’s Takanyi Garanganga beat Frenchman Gianni Mina 6-0, 6-4, while Calvin Hemery from France defeated Benjamin Lock in a straight set of 6-3, 6-0.
Tunisia’s Aziz Quakaa also defeated his brother Dougaz 5-7, 6-4, 4-2.
The semi-final and final matches have been scheduled for Saturday while the state governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, would declare the competition closed.