Noma Noha Akugue was denied her first-ever tennis career title after she lost to Arantxa Rus 6-0, 7-6 (7-3) in the final of the WTA Hamburg Open on Saturday.
The 19-year-old German-Nigerian reached her first career final when she defeated Russia’s Diana Shnaider in straight sets in the semi-finals on Friday.
The 207th-ranked player in the world also defeated Brazil’s Laura Pigossi, Australian Storm Hunter and Italy’s Martina Trevisan along the way. She was however powerless against Rus in the first set of the final as the Dutch number seven seed did a bagel in 25 minutes.
The second set saw a much fiercer battle as Noha Akugue broke Rus in the first game before Rus replicated it in the second game. Both players held serve from that moment, though Rus was close to sealing the match in the 10th game with two match points on Noha Akugue’s serve. The Glinde resident however saved both match points to tie the game 5-5.
Rus again had match point at 6-1 in the tie break and Noha Akugue saved two of them to reduce the deficit to 6-3. Noha Akugue however lost her serve to allow Rus see out the tie break 7-3 and hand her own first career title at the age of 32.
Arantxa Rus to Noma Noha Akugue:
“Hello everyone. First I’d like to congratulate Noma for your great week and great fight. You’re still very young. Good luck in the upcoming tournament” ❤️ pic.twitter.com/WmGdBIyo6q
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) July 29, 2023
Noha Akugue is the daughter of a Nigerian boxer Ronald Obazelu who is a native of Edo State. He emigrated to Germany in the 1990s, a period when popular German Steffi Graf ruled women’s tennis.
Noha Akugue was born in 2003 and her father enrolled her in tennis classes from the age of three. Her favourite tennis player is Naomi Osaka and she is a big fan of Nigerian music artiste Rema who also hails from Edo State.
Major props to #HamburgOpen runner-up Noma Noha Akugue.
Some players will never reach a final in their career – this was Arantxa Rus’s first at the age of 32. Respect.
Noha Akugue’s 19 and she did it on her WTA debut.
Future is very bright.
???? | Frank Molter/Cathrin Mueller pic.twitter.com/SMWIAOvrR2
— Black Spin Global (@BlackSpinGlobal) July 29, 2023
Her highest career-ranking is 197th which she achieved a few weeks back. She also made her qualifying Grand Slam debut at this year’s French Open.
