TENNIS – BRITAIN’S Toby Samuel was crowned men’s singles champion yesterday in the Manama Challenger, which came to a close at the Public Security Officers Club in Gudaibiya.
Samuel secured his title after outclassing second seed Ilia Simakin from Russia 6-0, 6-2 in just 48 minutes of action.
Samuel was dominant in both sets. In the opening frame, he broke Simakin in the first, third, and fifth games, and then continued his fine form in the second where he broke his rival in the first, third, and seventh games, helping him take the crown.
With the result, Samuel joined the Russian-Italian tandem of Petr Bar Biryukov and Alexandr Binda as champions in the tournament.
Bar Biryukov and Binda secured their title in the men’s doubles, where they faced Simakin and his compatriot Egor Agafonov.
Following yesterday’s title-decider, the two finalists were awarded their respective trophies by Bahrain Tennis Federation vice-president Shaikh Khalid bin Rashid Al Khalifa.
The Manama Challenger was a category 50 competition that was part of this year’s ATP Challenger Tour calendar. It featured top professional players from around the world who battled for the lion’s share of the $60,000 total prize purse.
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