Nigeria’s Oyinlomo Barakat Quadre produced a brilliant comeback performance to beat Russia’s Maria Bondarenko in three sets and claim the ITF Junior Tennis Club de Megrine title in Megrine, Tunisia, on Sunday.
The teenage sensation, who in 2016 claimed an unprecedented three consecutive ITF circuit titles, which prompted her bagging a scholarship to the ITF High Performance Centre, in Casablanca Morocco where she is currently based, rallied from a first set tiebreak loss to clinch the second and third sets for a 6-7, 6-4, 6-2 victory over the 6th-seeded Russian.
Quadre, 15, had come into the Grade 3 hard-court tournament in Megrine on the back of an impressive third-place finish at the African Junior Closed Championships for Under 16s in Hammamet. The young Nigerian would build on that momentum in Megrine, dismissing home favourite, Amel Sammari, 6-0, 6-3 in the opening round, and recording a 7-5, 6-2 win over Sara Akid of Morocco in the second round.
The right-handed double backhand player, who also won two gold at the 2018 National Sports Festival for Delta State, further progress by beating France’s Emma Aucagne 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in the quarterfinals, before going on to defeat 5th-seeded Russian, Alina Shcheribinina 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 to reach the final – her first on the ITF Junior Circuit this year.
She went on to cap off a memorable week by clinching the title, which is her first ITF Grade 3 title.
She headed into the tournament ranked 320 in the juniors but she is now guaranteed a significant rise which should see her inside the top 300 when the next ranking is released later this week.
