Imeh loses as Babalola, Adegoke qualify for semi-finals at CBN Open

• As championship ends tomorrow
Top seed of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Senior Tennis Championship, Joseph Imeh, yesterday crashed out of the 40th, edition as event enters semi final stage.

Second seed, Abdulmumuni Babalola and women’s defending champion, Sarah Adegoke, however, booked their semi final places ongoing at the Package ‘B’ of the National Stadium in Abuja.

Imeh lost out of championship laurels after been beaten 6-2, 6-2, by Spain-based Sylvester Emmanuel, while Clifford Enosoregbe outclassed Emmanuel Paul 6-1, 6-4 to book a semi final berth.

Also victorious in one of yesterday’s fixtures was tournament eighth seed, Uche Oparaoji who was one game down in his quarter-final match against Albert Bikom before bouncing back to win the game 2-1 (3-6, 7-6 on1, 7-5.

The defending champion and tournament number two seed, Abdulmumuni Babalola, who was not in a hurry to lose his cherished title also cruised to the semi-final with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over hard-fighting Michael Michael.

With the pairing already known, Emmanuel will take on Enosoregbe in the first semi-finals, while Babalola will battles Uche Oparaoji in the second semi-finals.

In the women singles, the defending champion, Sarah Adegoke who had a 6-2, 6-2 quarter-final win over Rose Abu will be up against Patience Oneamhoin in today’s first semi-final, while the second semi-final is between two friends, Christy Agugbom and tournament number three seed, Blessing Samuel.

The championship, which had over N11.3m set aside as prize money, started on June 21, 2018 and ends tomorrow while Sunday is departure date.