Tennis-Adjei-Darko succumbs to Loglo in three sets

Ghana's Henry Adjei-Darko on Friday succumbed to the might of tournament's number one seed Komilavi Loglo of Togo, in a 6-4,4-6,6-4 epic thriller at the Accra Sport Stadium court.

It was a match filled with amazing of points, mind-boggling shots and retrievals that lasted for two hours 33 minutes as well as display of talents rarely seen of boys under 18 years of age.

Loglo by this victory wins the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior Satellite for the under 18 and below for West Africa, having won the Lome and Accra legs while Adjei-Darko comes second for winning the first leg in Lagos.

Loglo who was pushed hard by the young Ghanaian through out the match had to rely on his big serves and numerous unforced errors committed by his less experience opponent for the victory.

The first set swayed from one player to the other, as Adjei-Darko broke Loglo's serve in the third game, but the joy was short lived as his opponent broke back immediately and levelled up in the fourth game.

The set then went with serve till the ninth game when Loglo broke Adjei-Darko's again, after saving two set points to push the game to deuce which saw the Ghanaian committing one of his numerous unforced errors and handing the first set to Loglo who won 6-4.

The second set saw a spirited come back from Adjei-Darko as he fought for virtually every ball using a lot of athleticism to win crucial points that brought the crowd to their feet on several occasions.

The seventh game, Adjei-Darko exhibited phenomenal athleticism as he dived at full length at the net to push the ball beyond onrushing Loglo to win the seventh serve.

In the tenth game Adjei-Darko broke Loglo's serve for the only break of set after he double faulted for Adjei-Darko to win the second 6-4 thus pushing the game a third decider.

The third game lost some bit as the two players having used a lot of energy in the first two sets played a much tighter game to conserve energy in the hot mid-day sun.

Adjei-Darko continued to commit more unforced errors especially at crucial match points as he pushed forward and was made to pay for this in the ninth game as his serve was broken to give Loglo the opportunity to serve for the game which he won 6-4.

In the girls division, number one seed Berthe Khady of Senegal beat her doubles partner from Zimbabwe Tsi Tsi Masviba 7-5, 6-1 after they had earlier won the girls doubles gold to bring her wins to three having won the first and second stages in Logos and Lome.

Henry Adjei-Darko took the consolation in winning the boys doubles after partnering with Sunday Jegede from Nigeria for the gold.