The second week of the International Tennis Federation’s U-14 Championship for West and Central Asia, organised by the Bahrain Tennis Federation (BTF), kicked off yesterday.
BTF president Shaikh Abdulaziz bin Mubarak Al Khalifa expressed his happiness over the success of the first week and highlighted that Bahrain’s players participating in the tournament showed remarkable development.
A number of matches were held yesterday in the first round of the boys’ and girls’ singles categories.
Syrian Laith Al-Hassan advanced to the boys’ singles quarter-finals beating Bahrain’s Ahmed El Sayed 6-4, 6-3. Two other players from Syria also booked spots in the last eight with Noir Zahradin defeating Saudi Arabia’s Abdul Malik Al-Shamrani 6-2, 6-2, while Mohammed Osama Siraj eased past another Saudi Abdul Razzaq Al-Hanabi 6-1, 6-4.
There was some consolation for Saudi Arabia when Haidar Al Farid achieved a hard-fought victory over Kuwaiti Mohammed Qali 7-6 (5), 7-5, to seal the last quarter-final spot.
In the girls’ singles quarter-finals it was just Syrian and Bahraini players in the fray with all four semi-final spots being taken by the Syrians. Mary Arbash outplayed Hanin Al-Najjar 6-0, 6-0; Al-Mu’ada Al-Mord defeated Hanin Abu Mustafa 6-2, 6-1; Yara Kayal eased past Maryam Yasser 6-0, 6-0; and Bana Izzi beat Salma Farajallah 6-1, 6-1.