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Nigeria's Prosper Okonkwo beats Raphael Dowuona of Ghana to win ITF J30 Tennis Tour Week 2
Week 2 of the Tennis Foundation Ghana hosted Accra J30 ITF Tennis Tour tournament ended on Saturday afternoon at the National Tennis Centre in Accra, with Prosper Ikenna Okonkwo of Nigeria upstaging Ghana's Raphael Nii Nortei Dowuona by straight sets in the final.
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The Nigerian proved his mettle as the number one seed with a convincing 7-6 (3), 6-0 whitewash of Dowuona, the number 4 seed who last Saturday emerged victorious at the end of Week 1 of the competition that is running for 6 consecutive weeks in Accra.
It was double delight for the young Nigerian as Okonkwo also partnered last week's singles runner-up, Joseph Franklin Jimoh to win the boys doubles event of Week 2 of the tournament that has players from over 40 countries competing for points.
"It's just hardwork and patience, it will come sometimes, other times, it won't work but you just have to keep pushing and believing in your self," said Okonkwo who missed Week 1 last week.
"It's going to be tough because of the stress of playing 5 weeks on the stretch but at the same time we have to keep pushing, just endure the pain and keep going gradually and we will see how far it will take us," the young tennis star added.
Dowuona may have failed to repeat as winner in the boys division, but Diya Chaudhary of India again topped the girls competition as she did last week following a come from behind victory over Leila Akhmetova of Russia in the final of Week 2.
The Russian took the first set 7-5 but Chaudhary came back strongly to win the next two sets 6-2, 6-1 to complete the turnaround to secure a second straight J30 girls title in Accra.
"Actually I thought about winning when I came here but I just wanted to play my best and it came good so I'm not surprised that I won," said Chaudhary before disclosing that she will only compete for two more weeks of the remaining 4 weeks of J60 action in the Ghanaian capital.
Nevertheless, the Indian youngster remains focused on enjoying every bit of her remaining competition in the next fortnight.
"The plan is just to play good tennis, give my best shot at every point and if I win, that is good and if I don't win too it doesn't matter if I play well. My ultimate aim is to play in the junior and main grand slams in future," she stated.
Meanwhile, there was some joy for Team Ghana in the girls doubles after Sisu-Makena Tomegah partnered Iriela Rajaobelina of Madagascar to defeat the pair of Raja Sarvagnya Kilaru and Alisha Ndukwu of Great Britain 2-6, 6-3 (13-11) in the final.
Organised by Tennis Foundation Ghana headed by Roger Crawford, the 6-week event enters Week 3 on Monday when the J60 tournament serves off at the Accra Sports Stadium.
