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October 14, 2019

October 14, 2019October 14, 2019 IFMSPORTS

Gauff grabs first title, defeats Ostapenko in Linz final

Coco Gauff in 2019, has hit another massive milestone as the American teenage sensation won her first WTA singles title at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz, outlasting former Top 5 player Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2, in the championship match on Sunday.

Gauff went from losing in the final round of qualifying to entering the main draw as a lucky loser and claiming her first-ever Top 10 win over Kiki Bertens in her maiden WTA quarterfinal.

The young American went on to reach her first tour-level semifinal and final before her 99-minute win over Ostapenko gave her the trophy. Already guaranteed to make her Top 100 debut after her first couple of wins this week, Gauff is projected to rise inside the Top 75 in the WTA rankings on Monday.

15-year-old Gauff, who started the season ranked well outside the Top 600, becomes the youngest WTA singles titlist since Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic picked up titles at Vancouver and Tashkent by the age of 15 years, 5 months in 2004.

October 14, 2019

October 14, 2019October 14, 2019 IFMSPORTS

Oshoala nets winner as Barca defeat Huelva

Super Falcons captain, Asisat Oshoala, scored the winner as Barcelona beat Sporting de Huelva 1-0 in their Spanish Primera Iberdrola clash on Sunday.

Oshoala’s goal condemned Huelva with Nigeria’s Peace Efih, Ghana’s Princella Adubea, Equatorial Guinea’s Oluwatobiloba Olanrewaju and Gambia’s Fatoumata Kanteh to a fourth league defeat.

With Sunday’s goal, Oshoala has now scored four goals in five league matches this season for Barcelona.

The win sees Barcelona retain the summit of the log on goal difference with 13 points from five matches, while Huelva are 13th with three points after five games.

The Nigeria international had ended her goal drought in the Spanish topflight with a brace in Barcelona’s 6-1 comeback thrashing of Atletico Madrid, before sealing a 2-0 win at Sevilla.

The Falcons striker also scored for Nigeria in last Monday’s 1-1 draw against Ivory Coast as the African champions crashed out of the 2020 Olympic qualifiers at the Agege Township stadium, Lagos.

October 14, 2019

October 14, 2019October 14, 2019 IFMSPORTS

Lagos Open: Burundi’s Nahimana battles Pigozzi in final

Newcomer Sada Nahimana has cruised into the final of the women’s singles of the first leg of the 2019 Lagos Open Tennis Championship, at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan.

The 18-year-old Burundian defeated Swede Fanny Oslund 6-3,6-1 in the semi-final on Sunday, to set up Monday’s final clash with Brazilian Laura Pigozzi in Monday’s final.

Pigozzi beat Indian Riya Bhatia 6-2,6-2 in the other semis.

Interestingly, Nahimana is visiting Lagos for the first time, but has shown a desire to make a mark, since her first match of the main draws of the ITF World Tour.

The youngster is well travelled, having played at the junior tournaments of major Grand Slams. She played to the first round stage of the Australian Open Junior 2019, was also at the French Open 2019Junior, where she played in the second round.

In 2018, she played in the second round of the Wimbledon Open Junior and first round of the US Open Junior same year.

The finals of the singles and doubles events were scheduled to hold on Sunday, but were rescheduled for today due to heavy rains in Lagos on Saturday, which forced the day’s matches to be shifted to Sunday.

October 14, 2019

October 14, 2019October 14, 2019 IFMSPORTS

Hemery, Sektic face off in men’s final

Frenchman, Calvin Hemery, needed only 63 minutes to dispatch Takanyi Garanganga 6-4, 6-0 in the semi-final of the Lagos Open Tennis championships on Sunday to qualify for the final.

The fifth seed was too good for his opponent, taking the first set 6-4, before powering on in the second set with a 6-0 victory.

He will face Bosnia’s Aldin Sektic, who is seeded sixth.

Sektic needed three sets to overcome fourth seed David Pichler in the semi-finals.

The Bosnian saved two break points in the fifth game before going on to break in the eight game, winning the first set 6-3.

Pichler however fought back to claim the second set 7-5, forcing the match to a deciding third set.

The 2015 Lagos Open champion then claimed the third set 6-2, winning the match in two hours 41 minutes.

The final match between Hemery and Sektic will be played at the centre court of the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club Onikan on Monday (today).

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