Aruna, Meshref zoom into WTT Contender Durban last 8

African champions in the men's and women's categories, Quadri Aruna of Nigeria and Dina Meshref, have confirmed their places in the last eight at the WTT Contender in Durban.

The players defeated their French and Polish opponents respectively in the Round of 16 to advance to the quarter-finals.

In the round of 16 tie against French teenage sensation Felix Lebrun, Aruna produced his best performance this year against the giant-killing European star.

Aruna came from behind twice to win the game 3-2 (3-11, 11-6,12-10, 15-13, 11-5).

The African champion lost the first game 3-11, before restoring parity in the second game 11-6. The Frenchman dazed Aruna in the third game and despite leading 10-7, Lebrun took five consecutive points to win 12-10.

Aruna was on the brink of exiting in the fourth game; Lebrun needed a point to complete his win, but the Nigerian fought well to win the game at 15-13.

The deciding match was dominated by Aruna as he won 11-5 to end the dream of Lebrun in South Africa.

For Meshref, she claimed a convincing win to proceed to the quarter-final of the women’s singles after defeating her Polish opponent Natalia Bajor 3-0 (11-8, 11-5, 11-8).

The stars of Africa started the championship on a winning note in the first round as Aruna beat China’s Sun Wen 3-1 (12-10, 15-13, 11-13, 11-8). Meshref proved too strong against Yuan Wan of Germany, where she was a standout player on the first day with a notable win.

She defeated Wan 3-1 (11-9, 8-11, 11-6, 11-9), to set up a round of 16 showdown with Natalia Bajor.

Meanwhile, Aruna will take on Ukraine’s Yaroslav Zhmudenko in the quarter-final while Meshref will take on Chinese Taipei’s Chien Tung-Chuan in the women’s singles quarter-final tie.

The $75,000 tournament ends on Sunday with the finals in the singles events.