Moses, Ifidzen win CBN Tennis Open
The 38th edition of the Central Bank of Nigeria Senior Open Tennis Championship ended with Michael Moses and Russian-based Melissa Ifidzen emerging as champions of the men and women singles categories respectively.
In the men’s singles category, last year’s runners-up Michael Moses defeated Sylvester Emmanuel 6-4, 1-6, and 6-3 in the final decided at the Tennis Centre court of the National Stadium, Surulere Lagos, even as Ifidzen went back to Russia smiling by retaining the title she also won last year.
Seeded No 2 behind last year’s winner, Thomas Otu, Moses won the first set 6-4 but dropped his guards in the second set which he lost 1-6 only for him to bounce back in the third and final set of the match which he won 6-3 to lift the 38th CBN trophy plus the N700, 000 star prize cash award attached to the trophy.
In the women’s singles category, the defending champion and tournament No. 2 seed, Melissa Ifidzen, proved that she was not yet ready to release her crown when she defeated last year’s runners-up and tournament top seed, Christy Agugbom 6-3, 6-2 to retain her title, thus winning it for the second time back-to-back. She also pocketed the N700, 000 prize money that goes with the trophy.
It was indeed a sweet and fulfilled 38th CBN senior tournament for Ifidzen who also paired with Sarah Adegoke to win the women’s doubles trophy by beating the pair of Christy Agugbom and Blessing Samuel 6-0, 6-2 in the final decided soon after the women’s singles final.
The final men’s doubles title went to 2013 champions, Abdulmumuni Babalola and Shehu Lawal who rediscovered their winning formula by defeating the pair of Michael Moses and Christian Paul in the final.
Declaring the event closed, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele reaffirmed CBN’s commitment towards development and promotion of sports, especially tennis in Nigeria through the continuous sponsorship of the annual CBN Senior Open and Junior Tennis Circuit as seen from the just concluded 10th edition which took place last month in Kaduna.
