By John Egbokhan
THE courts of the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club will literally burn from today as 15th Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis Championship serves off, with Nigerian players scrambling for precious world ranking points to boost their stunted careers.

About 20 matches in the Men and Women singles main draw are on the card, with  no fewer than eight Nigerian players entering the main draw, courtesy of wild cards extended to them by the Sani Ndanusa-led Nigeria Tennis Federation.

But for the wild cards granted them, most of them would have played through the qualifying draw often seen as a tortuous path to get into the main draw of tournaments of this nature.

Moses Michael will be championing Nigeria’s bid of an unlikely shot at the top prize in the first week of the tournament. As the highest ranked Nigerian in the draw and still fresh from helping Team Tombim win the NCC Team Tennis title on Saturday, Michael will face treacherous waters in the hands of better equipped players from Europe, Asia and America, who have all converged on Lagos for the only international ranking event in the country.

Also in the spotlight is Russia-based Nigerian angel, Melissa Ifidzhen, who marked her entry in the local scene in a big way after winning the ladies singles title at the Central Bank of Nigeria Championship, held earlier in the year in Lagos.

Bosnia and Herzegovina player, Aldin Setkic is the highest ranked player in the tournament. With a singles ranking of 231, he is the favourite to win the men’s tittle while French lady Sherazad Reix is the women’s top seed, all thanks to her current ranking of  247