Abuja – Tournament’s top seed, Perez Sanz from Spain, on Thursday qualified for the semi-finals of the Dayak Abuja Tennis Open, after taking out Nicolas Scholtz of Russia 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-6(6).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Men’s Singles Circuit’s match was played at the Abuja National Stadium.
In other quarter-final matches played at the same venue, second seed Mohammed Safwat of Egypt defeated Nicolas Meister from the U.S. 6-2, 6-4.
Also, Antal Van-Der-Duim from Netherlands and tournament fourth seed beat Karim-Mohammed Maamoun of Egypt 6-3, 7-6(3), while Ilija Vucic of Serbia defeated David Pel of Netherlands 6-3,5-7,7-5.
In the men’s doubles, the pair of Haenle Pirmin and Reese Hunter progressed to the semi-finals by beating the pair of Alexander Igoshin and Yan Sabanin 6-4, 6-4.
The pair of Pel and Van-Der-Duim beat the pair of Scholtz and Vorster Tucker 6-2, 6-4 to qualify for the semi-finals too.
Speaking after his match, Sanz told NAN the game was tough for him because he was hitting the net most of the time.
“It was a tough match, because my balls were hitting the net. I really do not know why. Today (Thursday) seemed to be like this, but I later won the match.
“I will now put all my efforts into the matches ahead of me and see how it goes because my performance in the past two weeks has been poor,’’ he said.
NAN reports that players from 24 countries, including Nigeria, are currently participating in the tournament.(NAN)
