Abubakari Yakubu-Lea beats Raphael Nii Ankrah to win his first ITF juniors title    

Abubakari Yakubu-Lea produced another stunning display to beat Raphael Nii Ankrah and win his first ITF junior singles title. 

Yakubu-Lea overcame unseeded Raphael Nii Ankrah 7-6(4), 6-1 in 2 hours 40 minutes of gruelling tennis.

Yakubu seeded 3, saved five set points to take the opener before battling past his fellow Ghanaian Raphael Nii Ankrah

"This is the hardest match I have played so far, Nii always takes you to the limit," Yakubu told ghanatennis.org.

"A bit of it was a lottery in the first set. Luck fell on my side today.”  

Yakubu overturned an early break of serve before saving a breakpoint in game six and bringing up one of his own in game 11.

But Raphael Ankrah was equal to the task and not only held firm, but earned himself a glorious opportunity at 6-5. He had five opportunities to take the opening set but Yakubu showed incredible defensive skills in forcing a tie-break.

After mini-breaks were exchanged, Raphael Ankrah sent down a double-fault to hand over the momentum and he was duly punished, Yakubu took the first set 7-6(4). 

Yakubu dropped just two points across his next four service games to move one set from victory. Yakubu showcased a mix of power and precision on his backhand and found consistent depth on his forehand return to break for the second time at 2-0 in the second set. The No.3 seed Yakubu continued his fine serving performance to reach match point when he broke six times for the third time. Yakubu sunk to his knees in celebration after Raphael Ankrah fired a cross-court backhand into the tramlines.

“I was aware he was going to be an extremely difficult opponent to face. There were a lot of nerves coming into that match. [We] always want to bring the best out of [ourselves] when facing each other. Playing Raphael Ankrah was a hard thing to do now, also considering that it was a final. There is extra stress and extra importance in the match that we had to play. [I am] proud of the way I behaved on the court today.” Yakubu said.

In the girl’s singles event, No.8 seed Ireland’s Lucy Bell Hogan ranked 2135 in the world won the girl’s singles title by defeating 2nd seeded Moroccan Kenza El Akili 6-4, 6-2.

Ghana’s pair Abubakari Yakubu- Lea and his partner Kenneth Adjokatse were beaten in straight sets by Italian Davide Liberati and Sevan Bottari in the Tennis Foundation Ghana doubles final. The Italian pair won 6-3, 7-6(4). 

Germany’s Tamara Kuti and Great Britain’s Isabella Wong won Tennis Foundation’s Ghana ITF Accra J5 Open girl’s doubles champions, securing the title after a hard-fought 6-1,6-4 victory against Ireland’s Lucy Bell Hogan and Nigeria’s Ozi-Oiza Josephine Yakubu.