Teenage stars, Musa Mohammed and Omolayo Bamidele capped off an impressive week of tennis in Lagos by winning the Zenith Bank ‘Next Gen’ Masters title in the boys and girls categories, respectively.
Having not lost a single set en route to the final, Musa Mohammed came into the final against Emmanuel Jebutu riding a wave of confidence. But Jebutu, who had knocked out the 2018 champion, Phillips Abayomi, got off to a brilliant start to hand his 17-year-old opponent his first set loss of the event.
Mohammed, however, regained composure thereafter to clinch the second set and force a deciding super tie-breaker, where he got the better of Jebutu to record a 2-6, 6-4, 10-6 victory and lift the boys title.
Elsewhere, in a repeat of the SNEPCo Futures Girls Under-16 final, Omolayo Bamidele produced a no-nonsense performance to beat Favour Moses 6-0, 6-4 and claim the girls title. It’s a second straight junior title for Bamidele, who clinched the Under-16 girls title at the SNEPCo Futures Tennis Championship in May.
Some of the youngsters will now look forward to competing at the CBN Senior Open later this month.