Nigeria’s teenage tennis prospect Oluwaseun Ogunsakin will return to action at the US Open Junior Championships on Tuesday as he faces South Africa’s Connor Doig in the round of 32 of the boys’ singles event.
Ogunsakin advanced to this stage after producing a memorable comeback victory over 15th seed Kuan-Shou Chen of Chinese Taipei, winning 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 in his opening main-draw match. The victory was the Aurum Tennis Academy player’s first-ever win in the main draw of a Grand Slam junior tournament.
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The 17-year-old will now look to build on that breakthrough when he takes on Doig, with the South African listed at No. 42 in the tournament’s ITF acceptance list.
Ogunsakin’s progress in New York follows an impressive qualifying campaign in which he defeated Poland’s Tymon Litwic 6-3, 6-0 before stunning Canada’s top seed Felix Roussel 6-3, 6-4 to secure his place in the 64-player main draw.
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His US Open campaign is another step in an encouraging Grand Slam season. Ogunsakin previously featured at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, where he reached the boys’ singles main draw and the doubles semi-finals.
The Nigerian also featured in the doubles event at Flushing Meadows alongside Botswana’s Ntungamili Raguin. The pair, however, exited in the round of 32 after losing 6-3, 6-4 to Ryo Tabata of Japan and Yannick Alexandrescu of France.
READ ALSO: From Wimbledon to the US Open: How Oluwaseun Ogunsakin Is Rewriting Nigeria’s Tennis Story
Ogunsakin’s focus will now be firmly on singles as he attempts to extend his historic run and move into the Round of 16.
The US Open Junior Championships run from 6 to 12 September, with the boys’ and girls’ singles draws featuring 64 players each.
For Ogunsakin, another victory against Doig would further underline his rapid progress on the international junior circuit and take him one step closer to a deep run at the final Grand Slam of the year.
The Nigerian teenager will be hoping to emulate former US Open junior champions like Andy Murray (2004), Andy Roddick (2000) and Lindsay Davenport (1992), who all went on to win the main title at different stages of their career.
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