After rain washed out play on Sunday, the Lagos Open men’s and women’s singles final will now hold on Monday, bringing down the curtain on a spectacular fortnight of tennis at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan.
For the second straight week, Calvin Hemery and Aldin Setkic will contest the men’s singles final, while Riya Bhatia and Nastja Kolar go head-to-head for the women’s singles crown.
After producing a brilliant performance to down 6th seed, Takanyi Garanganga, 6-2 6-2 in the semifinals, Aldin Setkic will return to court on Monday to take on his biggest test.
Hemery has completely dominated the men’s singles field all fortnight, losing no set in his 9 consecutive wins. In the semifinals on Saturday, the 24-year-old only had to fend off a stiff challenge from Aziz Ouakaa in the first set before making light work of the Tunisian in the second for a 7-6 6-2 win. Now, he has one hurdle left to cross.
Setkic, 31, will be shooting for his 28th ITF title and second in Lagos after his 2015 triumph. Hemery, meanwhile, will be looking to become only the 3rd man in 10 years to win both the 1st & 2nd leg titles in a single edition after Enrique Lopez Perez of Spain in 2012 & 2016, and Serbia’s Pedja Krstin in 2017.
The Frenchman dismantled Setkic 6-1 6-2 in just 69 minutes in last week’s final. Can he replicate same performance? Or will the Bosnian get his revenge?
For the women’s singles title, 6th seed Riya Bhatia takes on 4th seed Nastja Kolar in a repeat of their quarter-final encounter last year, which Bhatia won in straight sets. However, a month later, Kolar defeated the Indian in a first round match in Muzaffarnagar, India, to set the head-to-head record at one-all.
Both women have played at their best all week, going deep and delivering at the biggest moments to make the final. While Kolar defeated Valeriya Strakhova 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in the semis on Saturday, Bhatia had to rally from the brink of defeat, escaping from 2-5 down in the third set against Rutuja Bhosale to win 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-5 after over 3 hours on court.
Bhatia, playing in her first ITF final since 2017, will try to clinch her 3rd title, while Kolar will go all out for her second ITF title this year and 10th overall. Who will prevail?
Order of Play