Second seed, Sadio Doumbia, and 19-year-old Jaimee Floyd Angele will square off for the 2019 Tombim Abuja Open title on Sunday.
Both men come into the final riding a wave of momentum that has carried them through the draw all week.
Floyd Angele, ranked 666th in the world, is competing in his first career final on the ITF World Tour. With his booming serve, the French teen has taken down everyone in his path—first, Brazil’s Pedro Sorgi, then Danylo Kalenichenko, Peter Kobelt, and more recently, Dan Added 7-6, 6-7, 6-0, powering down 53 aces in the process.
Before coming into Abuja, Angele managed a 5-5 win-loss record this season, only going as far as two quarterfinals—in Monastir, Tunisia, in February, and Arcadia, USA, in March, both M15 events. He has, however, now put together powerful performances to reach a career-first final here in Abuja. Can he get past one last hurdle and clinch a maiden ITF World Tour title on Sunday?
The 6ft 9in teenager has powered down 53 aces en route to his first ITF World Tour final.
But Sadio Doumbia could crush his countryman’s hopes. The 28-year-old is aiming for a 6th ITF World Tour title and first since August 2018 in Gyor, Hungary. The Frenchman has dropped just a set all week, which came against his compatriot, Maxime Mora in the second round. That 3-set victory was meshed in between a 6-1, 6-0 first round win over Ivorian, Abdoulaziz Bationo, and a 7-6, 6-3 win over Simon Yitbarek of Sweden in the quarter-finals.
In Saturday’s semi-final against 3rd-seeded Indian, Arjun Kadhe, Doumbia clinched two tiebreaks for a 7-6(5), 7-6(0) win- one that underlined his admirable composure all week.
Having made three quarter-final appearances this year, this run in Abuja is Doumbia’s best of his 2019 season so far. Can he now cap off a memorable week by claiming the title?
It will be a first-time meeting between both men, and it should be a good test of their mettle. Who’ll pass it?
This match is live from 3:00pm on Centre Court at the National Tennis Centre, Abuja, on Sunday.
