Blessing Otu, Others through to CBN Senior Tennis Second Round

Hard fighting Blessing Otu stroked  her way into the second  round of the on -going 47th edition of the Central Bank of Nigeria Senior Tennis Championship holding at the Tennis Courts of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja.

Playing in the women’s single’s category, Blessing dismissed the tough challenge from her opponent, Kelvin Bebe- Emmanuella. 

Blessing won in two straight sets of 6-1, 6-3 in her first game of the Round  of 32 to advance into the Round  of 16.

Speaking in a post match interview immediately after her match, Blessing who will be 19 years old in September, said she capitalized on the left handed playing style of her opponent.  She said she capitalised on her weaknesses to gain upper hand.

“Bebe is a very good and tough player. But I studied her game adopted the game plan to succeed and it worked for me.

Blessing admitted that Bebe attempted to fight back in the second set but “I punctured all her tricks  to win the match and move on.  I wish I can continue like this with the rest of my games.”

Another member of the Otu family, John Otu defeated Mohammed Abdusalam 2-1 (6-2, 6-7, 6-1 ) in the Round of 64 of the men’s single’s category  to advance into the Round  of 32.

But the third Otu in the tournament, Thomas Otu, was not that lucky like his other two  siblings as crashed in the first game.

He was sent packing by Danjuma Isaac in two straight sets of 6-0, 7-5 .

In other matches, Michael Emmanuel defeated Ibrahim Aminu to advance while Drimiya  Mevi outclassed Seyi Ogunsakin by beating him 2-1 ( 6-7, 6-3, 6-1).

Another winner  is Mohammed Dahiru that stopped Toby Ruby 6-3, 6-4 as Sylvanus Agang beat Egena Peter 6-1, 6-1.

Michael Chima had to use his experience in the game to stop  hard fighting Mathew Abamu 7-5, 7-6 in a game that could have gone either way..

Meanwhile, action will continue on Wednesday when other players including the men’s singles top seed, Abua Cannice, will take to the centre court.