In less than a week, players from all over the world will take to Lagos to battle it out for vital ranking points and a share of the $100,000 prize-money pot that the Lagos Open offers.
The Lagos Open, now in its 19th edition, will, as usual, hold for two weeks from 7 October – 20 October at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club in Onikan.
The acceptance list for the annual event is out, with Tunisia’s Skander Mansouri leading the pack in the men’s event – M25+ Lagos – as the highest-ranked player. Aldin Setkic of Bosnia returns for the first time since his sole triumph at the event in 2015, while Zimbabweans, Benjamin Lock and Takanyi Garanganga are also among those listed in the main draw.
Mansouri, ranked 341st in the world, will come into Lagos with the hopes of adding to his 5 ITF World Tour titles, 4 of which he won this year, with the most recent title-triumph coming at the M25+ Oliveira De Azemeis event in Portugal last week.
Skander Mansouri
Aldin Setkic, 31, returns to Lagos for the first time since his triumph at this event in 2015. The Bosnian, a 27-time ITF World Tennis Tour champion, will harbour hopes of reigning supreme yet again and clinching his first ITF title since 2017.
6-time ITF champion, Benjamin Lock returns to Lagos for the second year running. The Zimbabwean was a quarter-finalist in both legs last year and will certainly look to go steps better this time around. Lock’s countryman, Takanyi Garanganga, a 9-time champion on the ITF World Tour, also returns to Lagos, and for the first time since 2015, where he finished as runner-up in the second leg. The 29-year-old will try to make his return a remarkable one, as he continues his chase for more trophies on Tour.
Four Nigerians are listed in the qualifying draw: Joseph Imeh, Sylvester Emmanuel, Paul Emmanuel and Mohammed Mohammed all of whom will be looking to make it through to the main draw and have a memorable campaign.
Joseph Imeh
In the women’s event – W25 Lagos – nine Nigerians will compete in the qualifying round: Teenage sensation, Oyinlomo Quadre, who reached the round of 16 in the first leg last year, Sarah Adegoke, Blessing Anuna, Aanu Aiyegbusi, Blessing Samuel, Oiza Yakubu, Racheal Adunoye, Omolade Aderemi and Osariemen Airhunwhunde all joining other players to contest for main draw spots.
Oyinlomo Quadre in last year’s event.
In the main draw, 12-time ITF World Tour champion, Valeriya Strakhova is the top-ranked player, with a WTA ranking of 384. Strakhova returns to Lagos for the fourth straight year. The Ukrainian’s best campaign was a semifinal finish in the second leg in 2015. Last year’s semi-finalist, Julia Terziyska of Bulgaria returns and will certainly look to go one better this time.
9-time ITF champ, Sandra Samir of Egypt, who’s ranked 390 in the world, 8-time ITF winner, Nastja Kolar and Laura Pigossi of Brazil are among those listed in the women’s main draw.
The 2019 Lagos Open is live from the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan, from 7 October – 20 October.
