Tennis: Ekpenyong battles Jovic for J100 title

Nigeria’s top ranked male tennis player, David Ekpenyong, will face Nikola Jovic in the final of the J100 event in Accra, Ghana on Saturday (today), PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

Ekpenyong, 17, was outstanding in the semi-final match against Carel Ngounoue from USA, defeating the American in two straight sets of 6-4, 6-4.

It’s the second consecutive final for Ekpenyong who was a runner-up in last week’s event losing in two straight sets 6-1, 6-2 to the Serbian. Ekpenyong had earlier defeated Jovic 6-2, 6-4 in the final of the J60 event in Accra on October 7.

Jovic, who is the tournament’s number two seed defeated Ekpenyong’s countryman Daniel Adeleye in two gruesome sets of 7-5, 6-3 to reach his second consecutive J100 event final and with the hope of winning it back-to-back at the expense of Ekpenyong.

His triumph dashed the dreams of a first-ever all-Nigeria finale at the J100 event, with Adeleye coming short despite fighting so hard.

Nigerian tennis enthusiasts will expect Ekpenyong to come clutch when he comes up against Jovic for the third consecutive week.

In their two previous meetings both players have recorded one win each, the Nigerian Davis Cup player won the J60 event while his Serbian opponent took the J100.

Ekpenyong will aim to win the J100 event in Accra to boost his chances of being ranked among the top 200 players in the world in October.

Our correspondent learnt that the youngster, who was a losing finalist at the J100 event in Quebec, Canada, is currently ranked 257 in the world, and is just some points shy of bursting into the top 200 in the world.