TENNIS – SERGEY Fomin from Uzbekistan advanced to the men’s singles semi-finals yesterday in the second Bahrain Men’s ITF World Tennis M25 Manama tournament, currently being played at the Public Security Officers Club in Gudaibiya.
Fourth-seeded Fomin defeated eighth-seeded German Nino Ehrenschneider 7-6 (2), 1-6, 6-0 to end his opponent’s bid to claim back-to-back titles in the kingdom.
Ehrenschneider was the champion of the first Men’s ITF World Tennis Tour event – an M15 competition – held last week at the same venue.
Fomin set up a clash with another German opponent in Maximillian Homberg, who ousted Nikita Bilozertsev from Ukraine yesterday. Homberg was leading 2-6, 6-2, 4-0 in the third set when Bilozertsev retired. The other semi-final will be between fifth seed Olaf Pieczkowski from Poland and Ivan Marrero Curbelo from Spain. Pieczkowski beat third seed Jelle Sels from the Netherlands 7-5, 6-1, while Curbelo battled past Timofei Derepasko from Russia 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (5) in a tightly contested affair that went the maximum.
Also yesterday, Sels and British teammate Giles Hussey set up a clash for the men’s doubles crown against Jeffrey Hsu from Chinese Taipei and Karlis Ozolins from Latvia.
Fourth seeds Sels and Hussey upset second-seeded Russians Ilia Simakin and Pavel Verbin 6-3, 5-7, 10-7; while Hsu and Ozolins stunned top seeds Curbelo and Canadian Kelsey Stevenson 7-6 (1), 6-3. All the semi-final matches will be played today.
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