Nigeria’s Canice Abua will play against Morocco’s Karim Bennani in the first singles match of the Davis Cup World Group II tie in Rabat today, Saturday. PUNCH Sports Extra has the details.
The match pairings were made official during the draw at the Conference Hall of the Union Sportive des Cheminots de Tennis du Maroc, the location for the tie happening on September 19 and 20.
Datti Yusuf, vice-president of the Nigeria Tennis Federation, represented Nigeria at the draw. Officials from the International Tennis Federation were also there. Before the draw, players, coaches, and officials from both teams had a meet-and-greet.
Abua, who is Nigeria’s number one player, will start the tie against Bennani. Daniel Adeleye will follow and face Yassine Dlimi in the second singles match. On Sunday, the doubles match will kick off with Michael Emmanuel and Yusuf Abubakar going up against Younes Lalami and Dlimi.
After the doubles, Adeleye will meet Bennani in the reverse singles. Abua will then face Dlimi in the fifth and possibly deciding match. All five games are best-of-three tie-break sets played on clay courts.
The winning team in Rabat will move on to the 2027 World Group I Play-offs. The team that loses will stay in World Group II.
Nigeria is looking to win its first Davis Cup match against Morocco after losing all four previous encounters since 1973. The team, led by head coach Benson Ishicheli, arrived in Rabat on Monday after training in Lagos.
“From history, where we are going, when they lose, they are a bit hostile, so we are preparing for that kind of situation. At the same time, we want to go there and break the jinx. We are at 0-4, and we want to make it 4-1,” Ishicheli said.
Nigeria returned to World Group II for the first time in 30 years after defeating Uzbekistan 3-1 at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan, in February. Morocco fell to this group after losing to Colombia in the World Group I play-off in Casablanca.
Adeleye, who is the second-ranked player in Nigeria and helped secure the win over Uzbekistan, is not worried about the crowd.
“There is no pressure. As I always say, enjoy the moment. It’s not my first time in Morocco, so I really enjoy it when I play, and people are against me. Every point is important,” he told Nigerian journalist Biola-Solace Chukwu.
Emmanuel, who is ranked third and played doubles with Abua against Uzbekistan, said the team is eager to build on that success.
“It has been our dream to put Nigerian tennis at the top. We want to go there and win. We are motivated to get the win and stay top,” he said.
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