Nigeria’s 3rd ranked tennis player Khadjat Mohammed will hope to continue her winning form today when she faces Nadine Hamrouni from Tunisia, in the second round of the African Junior Championships (AJC) in Algeria.
To progress, the J30 Abuja winner played against Modjo Okomo from Equatorial Guinea in one of the second matches of the day, comfortably beating her opponent 6-1, 6-1.
In the men’s version, Seun Ogunsakin, could not see off his Egyptian opponent Samih Mostafa, as the Nigerian lost in a final set battle.
In what looked like an upset, Mostafa, ranked 893 in the world junior rankings, took out Nigeria’s Ogunsakin, rated 628 and the tournament’s number four seed with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 win.
The Nigerian teenager will now focus on the AJC Doubles event where he is the tournament’s number two seed, alongside Rosa De Arajue from Mozambique.
In the order of play for Wednesday, 17 April, Ohunene Yakubu, the tournament’s number four seed, will play against Algeria’s Houdar Benamar for a place in the quarterfinal of the tournament.
Tag: rankings
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After impressive performances in the last Dala Hard Court in Kano State, Nigeria’s teenage tennis sensation Kadijat Mohammed and David John enjoyed some prominent positions in the latest national rankings.
Mohammed who won the Kano event in a sensational style stars in 3rd place in the ladies’ singles rankings released by the Nigeria Tennis Federation NTF.
Barring any other national tournament holding before the end of the year, the youngster will end 2023 in top five bracket of the senior women players’ rating.
In the men’s category John made a giant leap to 14th in the singles rankings following his semi final performance in this year’s Dala Hard Court.
Enroute the last four stage, John dumped out two seeded players which was enough to catapult him to his current position in the national rankings from 30th place.
David Ekpenyong maintains his number one spot in the country’s men game while Marylove Edwards remains the woman to beat in the national ratings.
MEN’S RANKINGS
1. EKPEYONG David 840
2. ATSEYE Henry 575
3. OPARAOJI Uche 467
4. LAWAL Peter 320
5. ABUA Canice 284
6. MADUEKE Nonso 235
7. TIMIBRA Godsgift 226
8. ILOPUTA Ikechukwu 175
9. EMMANUEL Michael 125
10. IGBINOVIA Wilson 120
11. ABUBAKAR Yusuf 117
12. PHILIPS Abayomi 115
13. KUSHIMO Usman 115
14. JOHN David 113
15. MICHAEL Chima 107
16. AJANG Sylvanus 100
17. OTU Thomas 97
18. SANI Musa 94
19. JEBUTU Emmanuel 87
20. MOHAMMED Musa
WOMEN’S RANKINGS
1. EDWARDS Marylove 850
2. AIYEGBUSI Aanu 700
3. MOHAMMED Khadijat 350
4. OMOTAYO Blessing 325
5. UDOKWELU Stella 225
6. BAMIDELE Omolayo 220
7. YAKUBU Oiza 185
8. ASOGBA Toyin 170
9. MOSES Favour 152
10. EKPEYONG Rebecca 145
11. MAXWELL Timipre 131
12. ONEBAMHION Patience 127
13. SAMUEL Blessing 125
14. YAKUBU Ohunene 120
15. ANUNA Blessing 112
16. LAGUNDOYE Idowu 104
17. ARE Bunmi 98
18. UDOFFA Mary 92
19. AKINGBADE Ronke 90
20. ADEUSI Jesutoyosi -
The recently-released Junior International Tennis Federation ITF Rankings reflected progress or otherwise made by Nigerian players, some of whom have been busy with competitions lately.
The country’s number one David Ekpenyong (186), remains the top-ranked Nigerian male junior player in the ITF rankings even though he dropped three spots despite his second round reach at the Zapopan J300 event in Mexico.
He is closely followed by Daniel Adeleye (472), another Nigerian who has had an outstanding year in tennis despite dropping a spot.
Abubakar Yusuf (918) and Joseph Franklin Jimoh (948) make up the list of Nigerians in the top 1000 of junior world rankings.
Ezekiel Azi (1185), who was the biggest mover in the rankings, jumped 74 places to go above Seun Ogunsakin (1220) while Odeh Monday (1250), who climbed five spots is ahead of Mubarak Ganiyu (1272).
Ikenna Prosper (1331) and Suleiman Ibrahim (1426) make up the top 10 Nigerian boys in the rankings.
In the girls’ category, despite not playing any junior ITF event recently, Tunisia-based Ohunene Yakubu (865) continues to lead the pack while Etoro Bassey (1683), the buzzing tennis sensation from Akwa-Ibom follows in a distant second.
Newly-crowned National Champion, Khadijat Mohammed (1714) comes in third place, having dropped three spots recently.
She is followed by Oiza Yakubu (1920) who still remains in the rankings despite leaving the junior cadre of tennis already.
Blessing Otu (2013) and Mary Udoffa (2192) come in fifth and sixth respectively, Osaherun Osayimwen (2671), who has not played any junior tournament in recent years, follows in seventh position just as Sarah Musa (2877) joins in eighth.
Occupying the ninth and tenth positions on the list are respectively Sunmisola Okajare (2963) and Destiny Okinhaye (3021) both of whom have not had really positive outcomes in their recent Junior ITF events. -
Nigeria gained 1.62 points yet remained static in the latest FIFA rankings released today for the Month of October.
The 40th global and 6th continental positions the Super Eagles occupy were down to playing lower ranked nations in the last international window.
The Eagles played a 2-2 draw with the Green Falcons of Saudi Arabia who are ranked 57 and won 3-2 against 113th ranked Mambas of Mozambique in the second Friendly this month.
An opportunity to play for more points and possibly climb the standings presents itself in November when Nigeria face Lesotho and Zimbabwe in the 2026 FIFA World Cup African Qualifiers -
Nigeria’s highest listed player Christopher Bulus has moved 85 places in the recently released rankings by the Association of Tennis Players, ATP.
The nation’s Davis Cup player whose stock has kept rising over the past few months, is now nearing the top 1000 in the world following his exploits on tour.
Bulus is currently ranked 1202nd from his 1287th position when the ATP released the ratings last week.
The 22-year-old player who once starred for the New Mexico Military Institute has now reached his highest ranking ever since he started playing tennis, a development which seemed unachievable given that he had missed years without any ITF competition.
“Just the fact that I’m able to play is good because I didn’t play any ITF competition in four years,” he had told Nigeria Tennis Live.
He upset a top 400 player during a 25k event in the United States, before losing out in the second round of the event.
Bulus is scheduled to play a 15k tournament in Telavi, Georgia this week, as he hopes to keep accumulating points in the ATP rankings which will help him get into the main draw of bigger tournaments.
With his recent results and rise in the ATP rankings, it may not be too long before he hits top 500 in the world and starts competing in challenger series.