TENNIS – Daniela Esina and Sofia Pyzhyanova set up yesterday an all-Russian clash for the girls’ singles title in the J30 Manama ITF Bahrain Juniors tournament, currently being played at the Bahrain Tennis Federation (BTF) courts in Isa Town.
Third-seeded Daniela advanced to the final after defeating sixth seed Julia Andreyeva, also from Russia, 6-3, 6-2; while Sofia claimed a 6-2, 6-3 win against Asya Ay from Türkiye to march through.
The boys’ singles crown will be contested between second seed Akhmadi Makhanov from Kazakhstan and sixth seed Nikita Davidovsky from Russia.
Akhmadi overcame a tough challenge from Canadian fourth seed 7-6 (8), 7-5 to make it to his final, while Nikita needed to battle back from a set down to take down compatriot Andrey Lee 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.
Both singles title-deciders are scheduled for today, to be played not before 9.30am.
They will be followed by the two doubles finals, which are scheduled to start not before 11am.
Amongst the girls, the Russian tandem of Stefania Kadzova and Sofia Lomakina will be looking to live up to their tag as top seeds when they face fourth seeds Sophia Arpa from Malta and Saule Tamulynas from Estonia.
Stefania and Sofia booked their final berth after beating VD Rashmi Wiljewardana from Sri Lanka and Yang Ruo Qing from China 6-2, 6-1; while Sophia and Saule were 6-4, 6-3 victors over second seeds Daniela and Julia.
On the distaff, the boys’ doubles championship match will be between the Russian tandem of Iakov Mazin and Philip Smirnov and second seeds Javier Montes Jimenez from Spain and Tudor Alexandru Zecheru from Romania.
Iakov and Philip upset Kazakh top seeds Akhmadi and Dias Tulepbergenov 6-2, 4-6, 10-7 in the last four; while Javier and Tudor battled past Czech duo Vaclav Barina and Tomas Tichy 6-4, 6-7 (5), 10-4.
The J30 Manama ITF Bahrain Juniors tournament is part of this year’s International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Tennis Tour Juniors Calendar.
It is one of three ITF junior events being hosted by the BTF this month.
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