Tennis

Olajide Omotayo

The Nigerian table tennis team began their campaign in the men’s Team – Group 4 at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia on a bright note by defeating Malaysia and Belize in their opening two ties on Thursday.

Olajide Omotayo defeated Chee Feng from Malaysia in three straight sets recording a 13-11, 15-13, 11-7 in his second match of the day.

Omotayo had earlier defeated Rohit Pagarani from Belize 11-4,11-2,11-2 in his first game.

Three-time champion and eighth seed Venus Williams has been knocked out of the Miami Open in the quarter-finals by qualifier Danielle Collins. The 24-year-old, ranked 93rd in the world, needed only one hour 29 minutes to come through 6-2 6-3 against fellow American Williams, 37, a seven-time Grand Slam winner.

Naomi Osaka defeated 23-times grand slam singles champion Serena Williams 6-3, 6-2 in the Miami Open first round on Wednesday, the latest big win for the emerging 20-year-old Japanese player. The pair were on serve in the first set of their first career meeting until Osaka, who won her first career title at Indian Wells last week, forced break point chances at 3-3 and Williams was unable to deal with a blistering backhand at her feet.

Nigeria's table tennis coach Bello Nosiru is tipping Quadri Aruna to cope with the pressure of being favourite for gold at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Aruna is the highest ranking player competing at GC2018 and his coach is confident the 29-year-old will thrive under the bright lights.

Rafael Nadal could soon be making his return from injury after being included on Spain's team for the Davis Cup quarterfinals against Germany next month, according to ESPN. Nadal hasn't played since January, when a muscle injury in his left leg forced him to retire in the Australian Open quarterfinals.

Roger Federer won his quarterfinal match at Indian Wells against 21-year-old Hyeon Chung with an ace; Chung challenged the call, and lost. The 36-year-old world No. 1 punctuating a straight-sets victory by reminding the young gun with the mighty return game that he still has much to learn.