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2024 Saudi Smash: Nigeria's tennis star, Aruna wins second round against Lee Sang Su of South Korea

Posted : 06 May 2024

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Nigeria's tennis sensation, Aruna Quadri, has taken a giant leap in the ongoing WTT Saudi Smash at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah with a smooth win over Lee Sang Su of South Korea, 3-2 in the second round of the men’s singles.


Aruna has now extended his lead to two games after winning the first round following a superb display.


Ranked 19th in the world, Aruna was at his best from the start of the encounter, dominating the first two games to win 11-9, 11-9. However, the Korean fought back in the third and fourth games to level up at 9-11, 7-11.


In the deciding encounter, Aruna raced to the lead with a 4-1 win, but the Korean thwarted his lead to 4-4 with both players playing with a lot of caution.


Even when Aruna was hitting the ball hard at the Korean, it seemed as if his shots were not too much for his opponent, who took the lead and was on the verge of victory at 10-8.


A backhand topspin from Aruna became the undoing of the Korean, who lost two points to allow the Nigerian to level up at 10-10.


A missed shot from Aruna again handed the Korean an 11-10 lead, as only a point was all the Asian star needed to avenge his last meeting loss against Aruna.


Just like he did in the first round against Indian legend Sharath Achanta, Aruna stood his ground and fought like a true champion, matching the Korean shot-for-shot, which eventually went his way for the tie to go 10-10.


Two missed shots were all Aruna needed to silence the supporting Asians at the venue of the match, as the Nigerian had the last laugh with a 13-11 win to become the second player to reach the second round after Iran’s Noshad Alamiyan took down world number five Jingkun Liang 3-2, causing the first upset of Day 3 of the $2 million prize money tournament.


For the third-round tie (round of 16), Aruna will face another Korean, Daeseong Cho, on Wednesday, May 8.

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