It appears that Nigerian players may not get near the medal zones of the Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis Open for now, as nearly all of them have been bundled out of the international tournament.

Just as the Nigerian representatives were knocked out in the preliminary rounds of the 1st leg of the competition last week, the hosts lost out of contention one after the other in the second round of the 2nd leg, held on Wednesday. Nigerian star player, Shehu Lawal, who earlier boasted that he would play his best tennis against India’s Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, lost woefully in straight sets of 6-0, 6-3, thus crashing out of the Men’s Singles of the tournament this year.

The show of shame by the Nigerian players continued with another crash of Kehinde Alade, who won just a game in his second round match against South African player, Ruan Roelofse. Alade lost the match 1-6, 0-6.

The rout was completed on Wednesday with the Nigeria’s pair of Shehu Lawal and Sunday Maku, who lost their Men’s Doubles second round match to the pair of Mithun Murali from India and Tunde Segodo of Benin 6-3 ,6-2, 10-8.
In the other fixtures, Number four seed Ante Pavic of Croatia defeated Mithun Murali of India 6-1, 6-4. Croatia’s Borna Coric defeated Theophile Segodo of Benin 6-2, 6-1, Alexis Klegou of Benin lost 5-7, 2-6 to Dino Marcan of Croatia, Japanese Star, Hiroki Kondo crushed Benenoise, Felix Hounkpevi 6-2, 6-2, and Andre Gaspar Murta from Portugal ousted David Chaplefeh Forchap from Germany 6-1, 6-2.
In the Wome’s Singles, former winner, Russian Nina Bratchikova made a big statement after her early exit in the first leg, as she proved too strong for Jasmin Steinherr of Germany, defeating her in straight sets of  6-3, 6-1. Britain’s Naomi Broady also over powered Margarita Lazareva of Russia 6-1, 6-0.
Meanwhile, Nigerian player,  Alade expressed his sadness after losing his match. “I was not happy losing to Ruan, but I must admit that he ‘s a very good opponent and he proved that in the match. I tried to win a game in the first set, but in the second set, everything just went against me”, Alade lamented.

“The tournament has been so good especially for the local players. But I believe that a lot must be done for us to match the more experienced and well traveled foreign players. However, my consolation is that I played in the Main Draws of both legs of the 13th Governor’s Cup, so I’m happy about that”, Alalde concluded.