Tom Jomby of France continued his brilliant run in Abuja by beating America’s Michael Zhu in straight sets to reach the quarterfinals of the GSL Open. He’s joined by his compatriots, Sadio Doumbia, the top seed, and Dan Added, as the French stay on track for a clean sweep of titles at the National Tennis Centre.
It was another clinical performance from Jomby, who has now stretched his winning streak to 7 matches. The Frenchman recorded a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Zhu, and will next face Ukraine’s Danylo Kalenichenko in a repeat of the Dayak Tennis Championships final last week, which Jomby won.
Kalenichenko, the eight seed, outlasted Greece’s Michail Pervolarakis 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-4 in 2 hours and 44 minutes to advance and remain on course for a third title on the ITF World Tennis Tour.
Elsewhere, top seed, Sadio Doumbia had no troubles advancing to the quarterfinals against Namibia’s Tuki Jacobs. The Frenchman led 6-2, 4-0 before Jacobs retired due to injury.
Doumbia, having won the Tombim Open in the first leg of events here, will seek to stay on track for a second title in Abuja, when he takes on Swedish qualifier, Simon Yitbarek in the quarter-finals on Friday, a repeat of their Tombim Open quarterfinal encounter.
Yitbarek, 18, progressed to his second quarterfinals of the 2019 season, following a 5-4 (rtd) win over Jack Draper of Great Britain. Draper, who won the Lagos Open last year, had raced to a 3-0 lead in the first set, but Yitbarek would step back in to win 5 of the next 6 games, before the 17-year-old Brit retired.
Meanwhile, last year’s beaten finalist, Arjun Kadhe fell to a 7-6(4), 6-7(4), 6-4 defeat to France’s Dan Added on Centre Court. Both men traded breaks early in the opener, before Kadhe took the set via the tiebreaker. The second set went the way of the first. This time, it was Added who clinched the tie-breaker to force a decider. Kadhe would go on to open a 3-0 lead and squander it almost immediately, as Added found his way back in, breaking the Indian in the fifth and seventh games, before sealing victory in 2 hours and 24 minutes.
Up next for Added is Brazil’s Pedro Sorgi, who defeated Jaimee Floyd Angele of France 7-6(5), 6-2.
Elsewhere, Dutchman, Niel Lootsma knocked out America’s Jacob Gamble 6-4, 7-5 to also advance to the quarterfinals, where he will face Gilbert Soares Junior, who ousted fourth seed, Fabien Reboul of France 7-6(4), 6-3.
In the doubles event, the young Nigerian-British pair of Musa Mohammed and Mukhtar Andu were beaten 6-3, 6-4 by French duo, Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul, who are well on track for a third straight doubles title in Abuja.
Mohammed and Andu put up a spirited effort the entire contest. The duo had led 3-1 in the first set, before Doumbia and Reboul combined excellently to win the next five games and take the set. In the second set, the youngsters staged a comeback, having trailed 1-3 to draw level at 4-4. They, however, couldn’t force a decider, as Doumbia and Reboul held firm to close out the match.
Doumbia and Reboul will take on Dan Added and Michail Pervolarakis for a place in the final, while top seeds, Arjun Kadhe and Sundar Prashanth, who defeated the American pair of William Bushamuka and Jacob Gamble 6-4, 6-4 will play the Dutch-Ukrainian duo of Niel Lootsma and Danylo Kalenichenko, who made light work of Tom Jomby and Arthur Bernabe 6-2, 6-3.