Team Tombim beats Kalotari to NCC Tennis League final ticket

TEAM Tombim of Abuja followed through their 3-0 commanding lead on opening day to rout Team Kalotari of Port Harcourt 6-1 in the second semifinal of the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) Tennis League. The last match, the men’s doubles, was conceded due to bad weather.

Team Tombim, which took full advantage of playing at home, will now meet the star-studded Civil Defence team, which had narrowly defeated Team Ogun 4-3 on aggregate in Enugu in the championship match scheduled for Tuesday December 1 to Saturday December 5 at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club.

The aggregate scores belied the closeness of the tie with the opening match between Moses Michael of Tombim and Sylvester Emmanuel of Kalotari lasting over three hours. Michael won 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.
 
Also in the reverse singles, Musa Bala of Kalotari took Christian Paul of Tombim to three sets with the Tombim No.2 winning 7-5, 6-7, 10-2 with the third set reduced to a 10 point tie-break because the tie was already decided.
Former national champion, Sunday Maku, also stretched Michael but could not salvage a point for the Port Harcourt based team losing in straight sets.

Tombim’s top women’s player, Sarah Adegoke had earlier on opening day compounded Team Kalotari’s problems when she defeated Osariemen Airhunwhunde 6-3, 6-4 to consolidate her team’s lead.

The finalists are guaranteed N3 million with the winner going home with N5 million.