TOP seeds Saud Alhaqbani of Saudi Arabia and Tuana Tinaztepe of Turkey both advanced to the second round of their respective singles draws today in the 10th Bahrain ITF Juniors Championships 2018 at Bahrain Tennis Club (BTC) in Juffair.
Headlining the official first day of action, Alhaqbani (ranked 706th in the world) was made to work for a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Taras Bakharenko (ranked 1,668th) of Ukraine in the Boys’ Singles first round.
On the distaff, Tuana (826th amongst girls in the world) overcame Wild Card Aleina Elizabeth Alex of India 6-2, 6-2 in their Girls’ Singles clash.
After living up to their top billings in their respective openers, both Saud and Tuana will be looking to carry over their fine form into the ensuing stage. Alhaqbani next plays Haruki Omori Cowie of Great Britain, while Tuana will be going against Lou Baudouin of France.
Cowie, who boast a 1,699th world ranking, defeated Rik Muller (ranked 1,925th) of the Netherlands 6-2, 6-4 to march through. Lou, ranked 2,390th amongst girls worldwide, upset 1,710th-ranked Renee Marie Acena of the Philippines 6-1, 6-2.
Almost all of the competition’s other seeded players also barged into the second round following this evening’s action. Only boys’ fifth seed Rahul Jaideep (ranked 1,450th) of India and girls’ third seed Bea Francesca Acena (881st) of the Philippines suffered early exits. Jaideep had to retire in the third set with Alexandre De Villepin (2,209th) of France leading 4-6, 6-4, 4-2. Bea, on the other hand, was stunned by Briton Hannah Smith 6-1, 6-2 in their match. Hannah is ranked 1,976th amongst girls in the world.
Boys’ second seed Charles Barry (723rd) of Ireland, third seed Matthew Rutter (1,252nd) of Great Britain, seventh seed Christopher Fok Kow (1,466th) of Mauritius and number eight seed Panagiotis Nearchou (1,467th) of Cyprus were all triumphant.
For the girls, joining Tuana in the next stage were second seed Oceane Babel (870th) of France, fourth seed Sanne Schalekamp (949th) from the Netherlands, fifth seed Jessica Dhome-Casanova (1,043rd) of Great Britain, sixth seed Nina Danisova (1,127th) of Slovakia, seventh seed Elif Sanem Karadag (1,231st) of Turkey and eighth seed Hrudaya Shah (1,258th) of India.
Rutter, Sanne and Hrudaya were each victorious over Bahraini players, all five of whom were eliminated from further contention. Rutter defeated Ali Al Sharif, Sanne beat Nazil Nader Redha and Hrudaya overcame Maya Bseisu. Amongst the other local talents, Mohammed Alkhan bowed to Victor Paganetti and Hassan Alqattan lost to Romain Gales, both from France.
Action continues today at the BTC hard courts from 2.30pm onwards. Along with the singles matches, play is set to begin in the doubles competitions.
YESTERDAY’S RESULTS
Boys’ singles: Alexandre De Villepin (FRA) bt [5] Rahul Jaideep (IND) 4-6, 6-4, 4-2 Ret.; [7] Christopher Fok Kow (MRI) bt William Jucha (FRA) 6-3, 0-6, 6-4; [8] Panagiotis Nearchou (CYP) bt Alexander Pustovit (RUS) 7-5, 6-3; Abd Elrahman Hassan (EGY) bt Gary Bahl (IND) 7-5, 6-3; Haruki Omori Cowie (GBR) bt Rik Muller (NED) 6-2, 6-4; [2] Charles Barry (IRL) bt Karim Ibrahim (EGY) 6-0, 6-3; Oliver Richards (GBR) bt Omar Loutfy (EGY) 6-1, 6-2; Omar Morsy (EGY) bt Abdullah Al Barwani (OMA) 6-1, 7-6 (3); Muneer Al Rawahi (OMA) bt Orhan Gur Umur (TUR) 1-6, 7-5, 6-4; Youssef Nabil (EGY) bt Zubin Omar (BAN) 6-2, 6-2; [3] Matthew Rutter (GBR) bt Ali Al Sharif (BRN) 6-0, 6-0; Victor Paganetti (FRA) bt Mohammed Alkhan (BRN) 6-1, 6-0; Romain Gales (FRA) bt Hasan Alqattan (BRN) 6-1, 6-0; [1] Saud Alhaqbani (KSA) bt Taras Bakharenko (UKR) 6-3, 6-4.
Girls’ singles: Rosaleen Alioussef (RUS) bt Lauren Cooper (USA) 7-5, 6-2; Megan Davies (GBR) bt Tanya Nanda (IND) 6-4, 6-2; Lou Baudouin (FRA) bt Renee Marie Acena (PHI) 6-1, 6-2; Hannah Smith (GBR) bt [3] Bea Francesca Acena (PHI) 6-1, 6-2; [2] Oceane Babel (FRA) bt Rhea Singh (IND) 6-0, 6-2; [5] Jessica Dhome-Casanova (GBR) bt Aglaya Zaynieva (RUS) 6-2, 6-2; Lama Nabil (EGY) bt Ruju Chauhan (IND) 6-4, 7-6 (4); Ellie Aldrich (GBR) bt Anna Lajos (HUN) 7-5, 6-2; [7] Elif Sanem Karadag (TUR) bt Anastasiia Kovalevskaia (RUS) 6-1, 6-2; Erika Weil (CAN) bt Riya Matharoo (IND) 6-0, 6-2; [6] Nina Danisova (SVK) bt Amy Leather (GBR) 6-2, 6-0; [4] Sanne Schalekamp (NED) bt Nazil Nader Redha (BRN) 6-0, 6-0; [1] Tuana Tinaztepe (TUR) bt Aleina Elizabeth Alex (IND) 6-2, 6-2; [8] Hrudaya Shah (IND) bt Maya Bseisu (BRN) 6-2, 6-2.