Frenchman Calvin Hemery has expressed pride at winning the men’s singles titles in both legs of the 2019 Lagos Open tennis championship.

Hemery, who has Nigerian heritage picked up the men’s singles title in the first leg when he beat 2015 champion Aldin Setkic a week ago and then repeated the feat on Monday against the same opponent when a stricken Setkic retired after just 25 minutes in the men’s singles final at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan.

Although his victory – his sixth on the ITF World Tour – was achieved in less than ideal circumstances, Hemery who was 4-2 up when his opponent retired, was nevertheless impressed with his rare accomplishment of winning back-to-back titles at the 2019 Lagos Open.

Hemery said a particularly satisfying aspect of his victory was the fact that he was able to maintain his intensity and focus in spite of the disruption to the playing schedule caused by incessant rainfall which forced players to play multiple matches on the same day and occasioned a shift in the finals from Sunday to Monday.

“I feel very happy today, you know? I don’t know if there were a lot of players who did that so I’m very proud of me. Very happy for my people also because they were here for me today,” the 24-year-old who pocketed $3,000 for his win said.

“So with the tough conditions here, the rain, the sun, two or three matches in a row sometimes, it wasn’t easy for me to stay focused on the tournament. So I’m very happy to finish with trophy, again,” he added.