Tennis lovers are in for a treat as the kingdom’s biggest and most prestigious tennis tournament of the year – the Bahrain ITF Futures 2018 – kicks off today at Bahrain Tennis Club (BTC).
The main draws in both the men’s singles and women’s singles were completed last night following the second day of qualifying in which eight men and a further four women secured their spots in the tournament proper.
Booking their berths from the men’s qualifying singles were Niklas Johansson of Sweden, Palaphoom Kovapitukted of Thailand, Jeson Patrombon of the Philippines, Robert Galloway from the United States, Patrick Mayer of Germany, Pak Long Yeung of Hong Kong, Mohamed Adnaoui of Morocco and Alexander Gornet, also from the US.
The four women who qualified yesterday were Nathalie Johansson of Sweden, Andreia Beberechi of Romania, Marian Jade Capadocia of the Philippines and Emelie Luisa Schwarte of Germany. They joined four other women who had already secured their slots on Saturday night at BTC.
Matches for both the men and women, in singles and doubles, begin today morning from 11am and continue until the evening. All tennis fans in the kingdom are welcome to watch the exciting action at the hard courts of BTC.
The tournament, which continues until Saturday, is being held under the patronage of His Majesty the King’s representative for Charity Works and Youth Affairs, Supreme Council for Youth and Sports chairman and Bahrain Olympic Committee president Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa. It is supported by the Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs and sponsored by E K Kanoo and Bahrain Duty Free.
After the completion of qualifying, the main draws were set.
Marsel Ilhan of Turkey is the top seed for the men’s singles while Michal Konecny of the Czech Republic is the second seed and Jelle Sels of the Netherlands the third seed. The fourth to eighth seeds are Marek Gengel of the Czech Republic, Lukas Ollert of Germany, Fred Simonsson of Sweden, Patrik Rikl of the Czech Republic and Claudio Fortuna of Italy.
Four Bahrainis have made it onto the men’s main draw as wild cards. They are Ahmed Janahi, Elyas Abdulnabi, Yousef Qaed and Abdulrahman Janahi.
Quirine Lemoine of the Netherlands is the top seed in the women’s singles. Ana Veselinovic of Montenegro is seeded second, Nastja Kolar of Slovenia third, Tereza Mihalikova of Slovakia fourth, Fatma Al Nabhani of Oman fifth, Zeel Desai of India sixth, Emily Webley-Smith from the UK seventh and Kanika Vaidya, also from India, eighth.
There are no Bahrainis in the women’s singles main draw.
The top seeds in the men’s doubles main draw are Sels and Simonsson, while the top seeds in the women’s doubles are Valeria Bhunu of Zimbabwe and Webley-Smith.
This year’s Bahrain ITF Futures Tennis Tournament features a total prize fund of a staggering $30,000 for both competitions. Players from more than 50 nations have registered to compete.