TENNIS – ALINA Korneeva from Russia was yesterday crowned the first-ever singles champion of the W75 Manama Bahrain Open.
The event marked the kingdom’s maiden tournament on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Women’s World Tennis Tour Calendar.
Eighteen-year-old Korneeva secured her crown after defeating Fiona Ferro from France 6-4, 6-0 in their final, played at the Public Security Officers Club in Gudaibiya.
Korneeva needed to battle back from behind thrice in the first set – including twice facing a two-game deficit – before finally taking control in the ninth game for a slim 5-4 advantage. The world number 212 then roared to the single-set advantage by holding Ferro scoreless in the clincher.
Korneeva then rode her momentum into the second frame, where 369th-ranked Ferro battled hard. Korneeva, however, was too good on the day and swept the set to secure the title against her 28-year-old rival.
“I’m super happy about how I played this whole week,” Korneeva said following the final, which she took in just over an hour’s match time. “I think I did a good effort with my team and I think I improved a lot.
“Super happy with the matches – they were good battles. Today was also very hard for us, it was a really windy day, so I’m really happy I could manage my emotions and go through these problems.”
Following the title-decider, Korneeva and Ferro were awarded their respective trophies by Bahrain Tennis Federation (BTF) president Shaikh Abdulaziz bin Mubarak Al Khalifa and vice-president Shaikh Khalid bin Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, in the presence of Shaikh Salman bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa and the tournament’s chief referee Ashraf Hamoud.
With yesterday’s result, Korneeva joined Anastasia Tikhonova from Russia and Viktoria Hruncakova from Slovakia as champions in this historic competition. Tikhonova and Hruncakova won the doubles title after beating opponents Polina Bakhmutkina from Belgium and Mina Hodzic in their final over the weekend.
The W75 Manama Bahrain Open featured $60,000 in total prize money, and it attracted some of the world’s top women’s professional players with leading Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings.
W75 tournaments on the ITF Women’s World Tennis Tour offer 75 WTA ranking points to the singles winner. These competitions are in similar standing to a men’s ATP Challenger event within the international tennis structure.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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