Nigerian sensation, Oyinlomo Quadre is optimistic of her chances of victory at this year’s CBN Senior Open. The 16-year-old has sounded confident and is looking forward to a remarkable campaign in Abuja.

Quadre’s been at the High Performance Centre in Casablanca, Morocco since the start of the 2019 season, where she’s honing her skills for a professional career. The youngster however is back in Nigeria for holidays and also to compete at the CBN Open. She’s a part of the junior players who were given wildcards for the event- something she’s appreciative of.

“It feels really nice to be given a wildcard,” Quadre said. “But I was prepared also to play in the preliminaries if I was not given a wildcard.”

Quadre became a force to reckon with on the ITF Junior Circuit recently. Notably, in April, she clinched her biggest career title at the ITF Junior Tennis Club de Megrine in Tunisia- a Grade 3 tournament, which propelled her into the top 200 on the ITF Junior Rankings and saw her become ranked No.2 in Africa. But before then, the teenager had, in December last year, won three Gold medals for Delta State in tennis in the singles, doubles and mixed doubles events at the National Sports Festival in Abuja.

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Quadre at the National Sports Festival.

That, alongside strings of other impressive performance gives her a lot of confidence coming into the CBN Open, and she hopes she can challenge for the title.

“I think I’m one of the favorites, because I won the last senior tournament which is the National Sports Festival. So, everyone is also looking forward to my matches, same way I’m looking forward to every match I play, hoping I play as well as the last tournament and even better.”

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There’s been a change in the weather in Abuja, with varying degrees at different times of the day. Mostly, it is cold, but the youngster feels that would have no effect on how she plays.

“I’m not sure it [the weather] will affect my game because, I’ve been here since Tuesday,” she said, when asked about the weather. “But the weather is weird, it rains in the morning and it’s really hot in the afternoon. I can feel the difference.”

At 16, Quadre could become the 20th different woman to lift the women’s singles title of the CBN Senior Open since its inception in 1979. And she doesn’t doubt her abilities.

“I’m in this tournament to win it,” she stated.

The 2019 CBN Senior Open is live at the National Tennis Centre in Abuja from Monday, 24 June to Saturday, 29 June.