The duo of Oyinlomo Quadre and Lemongo Toumbou had their impressive run in the doubles event of the African Closed Junior Championships Under-18 in Marrakesh come to an end after they were edged 7-6(2), 6-3 by home favourites and third seeds, Sara Akid and Oumaima Aziz in the semifinals at the Royal Tennis Club in Marrakesh on Thursday.
Quadre, having narrowly lost out on a second round spot in the singles event on Monday, teamed up with Cameroon’s Lemongo Toumbou for the doubles. Both youngsters would ease through to the semis with relative ease, thrashing Madagascar’s Mialy Ranaivo and Corrine Ranaivo 6-0, 6-0 in their opener, before going on to beat home hopefuls, Yasmine Kabbaj and Doha Zeghlouli in straight sets to reach the semis.
Against the duo of Akid and Aziz, however, the girls’ lost the opening set in a tie-breaker, and couldn’t quite match the imposing play of the Moroccans in the second set, as they bowed out in straight sets.
Akid and Aziz will now take on top seeds, Sada Nahimana and Aisha Niyonkuru, both from Burundi, in the final.
The Burundian duo defeated Salma Loudili and Hind Semlali of Morocco to reach the final.
