Playing in the opening game of the tournament at the Bishop Frank Ofori Centre Court, the 23-year-old from the Ashanti Tennis Club said he targeted the backhand of his opponent during the competition.

"I feel very excited as an unseeded player from Kumasi, coming to Accra to defeat a seeded player and I am already looking forward to the next round," Nti said.

"I knew his backhand was not perfect, so I targeted it and he made some unforced errors which allowed me to carry the day".

Tournament

The tournament started yesterday with 32 players each in the men's and women's draw.

It also has categories for Under-12 boys and girls as well as wheelchair tennis players.

Equal pay

In an interview, the Chairman of the Organising Committee of the tournament, Nana Kofi Aidoo, said the Committee had put in place an equal pay policy which will see both the male and female winners receive equal cash prizes of GH?5,000.

He said the main objective of the tournament that ends on Saturday was to prepare young Ghanaian tennis players for international tennis tournaments such as the Davis Cup, Commonwealth Games and the African Games.

Nana Aidoo also assured that next year's tournament would be held in another region with support from corporate Ghana.