Second seed Quadri Aruna of Nigeria was at his best against Swede Jon Persson in the first round of the Men’s Singles at the 2021 WTT Contender Series in Tunis.
Though touted as one of the title contenders , Aruna did not start well against the Swede despite leading 8-4 in the first set and only to lose the tie at 11-9.He was trailing his opponent at 10-7 in the second set but the Nigerian fought back to win the set at 12-10.
In the next two sets, Aruna established his dominance to win at 11-6, 11-4 to complete the 3-1 bashing of the European.
In the second round (last 16), Aruna will face his former teammate at club level, Portuguese Joao Monteiro , who had earlier edged out Egypt’s Ahmed Saleh in a close match that ended 3-2 in his favour.
Aruna is expected to take on the Portuguese on table one with the winner of the match advancing to the quarter final stage of the Men’s Singles in the first-ever WTT Contender Series in Africa.
Meanwhile, Tunisian teenager Khalil Sta has tipped Aruna as favourite for the Men’s Singles title.
“I am sure that Aruna can make Africa proud by winning this tournament as the first African to win a WTT event,” the 17-year-old told NationSport.“ He has the quality against the Europeans and having watched his first round match, I think he can do it.”
WTT Contender is the foundation of the WTT Series structure, offering a total prize purse of $75,000 and 400 ITTF World Ranking Points across Men’s and Women’s Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles competitions.