Russian-born Melissa Ifidzhen began her debut for Nigeria on a winning note on Monday as she paired Elizabeth Garos-Pam to beat Algerian duo of Saadia Belhadj and Sihem Sahli in the girls doubles of the 38th ITF/CAT African Closed Junior Championship holding in Cairo, Egypt.
The 16-year old, who was accompanied by her dad to the clay-court tournament, showed great composure and understanding with her London-based partner, Garos-Pam, who is also enjoying the support of her dad at the tournament featuring about 80 players from over 20 countries.
They dispatched their North African opponents 6-0, 6-3 in less than an hour in the first round tie.
However, both players recorded mixed fortunes in their match for glory in the singles as Garos-Pam lost to Mariam Mujawimana of Burundi 7-6 (6), 6-3in a close contest while Ifidzhen, due to her point haul on the ITF junior rankings was drawn bye to the second round.
Ifidzhen now faces a tough battle as she confronts Lee Barnard of South Africa for a place in the third round. The seventh-seeded Barnard did not drop a sweat as she was also drawn bye.
Meanwhile, Nigeria has written to the ITF to effect the country of representation for Melissa as the Muscovite is still using her Russian identity.
President of Nigeria Tennis Federation, NTF, Sani Ndanusa stated that “Melissa is still being referred to as a Russian player but we have written to the ITF through her father to effect the change which should be done soon.
“We experienced the same problem when Garos-Pam started playing for us as she is seen as a British player but it was rectified later.”
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