By John Egbokhan
IT was not the fairy-tale ending they hoped for but while it lasted, they enjoyed it, but like in all things in life, everything with a start must end, and so was the case of Clifford Enosoregbe and Sylvester Emmanuel, whose romance with the Governor’s Cup Futures 5 ended yesterday.

For the duo, who were the only Nigerian players in the men’s singles quarter-final, their   losses underlined the fact that with some more funding and regular activity on the circuit that they will hold their own against their counterparts.

Enosoregbe will find comfort in the  reality that he was not blown out by seeded Indian Sasi Mukund, who had to dig deep into his armoury of  warfare to edge out the Nigerian in three sets of 6-1, 3-6, 6-2. But for a momentary lapse in concentration, Enosoregbe would have maybe, taken the decider to a tie-breaker but after being broken in the fifth game, e never recovered and got broken  again in the seventh, before Mukund served off the match with a thundering forehand winner down the line, to set up a tantalising semifinal date with Gianni Mina of France today at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan.

It was another close call in the other quarter-final featuring Nigeria’s Sylvester Emmanuel, who despite fighting tooth and nail, ended with the short end of the stick, losing in three sets of 2-6, 7-5, 1-6 to Egypt’s Karim-Mohamed Maamoun, who today plays Spanish top seed, Lopez Perez for a place in tomorrow’s final.

In the women’s singles, top seed, Valetini Grammatikopoulou of Greece continued her title bid, with a 6-4, 7-6, conquest of Bulgarian Julia Terziyska, while Slovak Tadeja Majeric dropped little sweat in her straight sets 6-0,  Omar’s Fatma Al-Nabhani who she defeated 6-0,7-6, just as Swiss Conny Perrin rode to a quick 6-1, 6-0 win over French Harmony Tan of France

Valetini Grammatikopoulou will settle scores with Conny Perrin in one of the women’s singles semi-finals, while Tadeja and Deniz Khazaniuk of Israel clash for the right to reach tomorrow’s finale.