Top-10 ranked South African tennis player Natasha Fourouclas is into the last 16 of the $25,000 ITF tournament in Lagos, Nigeria, writes Mark Etheridge.
She came through qualifying easily enough. Seeded second in the qualification stages, she had a bye in the first round and then beat local player Rose Ojonimi 6-1 6-2 in her next match.
Then in the main draw proper she beat Nigerian player and fellow qualifier Blessing Anuna 6-0 6-1.
She now faces Russia’s Ksenia Lykina of Russia in her next match.
In a last week’s ITF tournament also played in Lagos, Fourouclas reached the quarter-finals. En route to the quarters she beat Agnes Szatmari of Romania and Slovenia’s Dalila Jakupovic. In the quarters she went down to Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-2 6-1.
Vekic went to make the final where she lost to seventh-seeded Ukraine player Elina Svitolina 6-4 6-3.