TENNIS – Nino Ehrenschneider from Germany was crowned men’s singles champion in the first Bahrain Men’s ITF World Tennis Tour M15 Manama tournament, which came to a close at the Public Security Officers Club in Gudaibiya.
Sixth-seeded Ehrenschneider secured the title after defeating third seed Olaf Pieczkowski 6-4, 6-4 in their final.
“This is my first time in Bahrain and I’m super happy with my win, with my whole week,” Ehrenschneider said.
“Finished on top – I think played a pretty good [final] until 6-4, 5-0, and I was thinking a little bit too much about winning. At the end, I tried to calm down and take a breather, and I was able to serve it out.”
“It’s a super amazing feeling. The hard work pays off. Here, under these conditions, I feel very comfortable in Bahrain and there is super organisation here. I couldn’t be any happier.”
Meanwhile, the pairing of Ivan Marrero Curbelo from Spain and Karlis Ozolins from Latvia won the men’s doubles title.
The third seeds upset number one seeds Sergey Fomin from Uzbekistan and Daniil Golubev from Russia 6-7 (10), 6-2, 10-8 in their final.
The winners were presented with their respective awards by Bahrain Tennis Federation (BTF) president Shaikh Abdulaziz bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, BTF vice-president Shaikh Khalid bin Rashid Al Khalifa, and ITF World Tennis Tour executive director Andrew Moss. The event carried a total prize purse of $15,000.
A second competition on this year’s ITF World Tennis Tour, an M25 Manama event, will be held starting from today at the same venue.
Ilia Simakin from Russia is the men’s singles top seed. The tournament features $30,000 in prize money.
The competitions are part of a series of major international tennis events being hosted by Bahrain this month and next.
Following this week’s M25 tournament, the kingdom will stage the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group V at the BTF courts from Monday next week until November 22.
It will feature 15 senior men’s national teams, who will be battling for two promotional places to Group IV for next year.
The countries playing in the kingdom are Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Guam, Laos, Macau, the Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Northern Mariana Islands, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, the UAE, Yemen, and Bahrain.
An ATP Challenger Tour will take place from November 23 to 29 at the Public Security Officers Club.
This category 50 event will attract top professionals from around the world, who will be vying for a share of the $60,000 prize money.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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