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NTF/ITF World Tour M25 to emulate Egypt’s 40 tournaments yearly record

By Fidelis Ebu, Abuja
08 April 2019   |   3:38 am
The Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) organised International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Tour M25 events, which include the Tombim Abuja Open, Dayak Championship and DSL Open, will serve off today with Tombim Open at the Tennis Complex of Abuja National Stadium. This series, according to NTF President, Dayo Akindoju aims to catch up with Egypt that…

[FILE PHOTO] tennis

The Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) organised International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Tour M25 events, which include the Tombim Abuja Open, Dayak Championship and DSL Open, will serve off today with Tombim Open at the Tennis Complex of Abuja National Stadium.

This series, according to NTF President, Dayo Akindoju aims to catch up with Egypt that organises over 40 ITF World Tour events each year.

Akindoju said the three-legged events would be the first time it would hold under the new ITF World Tour format introduced in March 2017 and implemented this year.

According to Akindoju, the Tombim Abuja Open, which is in its fifth edition, will be the first leg and will run from today to April 14; the Dayak Championship, the second leg, would be from April 15 to 21, while the GSL Open, third and final leg, is expected to run from April 22 to 28, featuring single and double matches.

“The competition has five ATP points up for grabs each week for the winner, three points for the finalist, and one each for the semifinalists. The tournaments will also be played under the new ITF format that has seen a change from duration of six days to seven days. This is to facilitate improved player scheduling and avoid the current overlap in tournaments (where typically the qualifying competition in one tournament will begin before the final of the previous week’s tournament).

“Previously, the qualifying round for a tournament will start on Saturday with the main draw starting on Monday and ending on Saturday.

With the new format, the tournaments will run from Monday to Sunday, including qualifying, will have 32 players in the main draw,” Akindoju said.

Already, entries have been received from players from 21 countries, including the United States of America, United Kingdom, Russia, Venezuela, Canada and Brazil.

Other countries include Uzbekistan, India, Argentina, South Africa, Croatia, Spain, Zimbabwe, Uganda, France, Togo, Moldova, Kenya, Ghana, Zambia and Germany.

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