Caleb Ralston of Ireland upset seventh seed Aaryan Zaveri of India 6-3, 6-3 last night to advance to the boys’ singles quarter-finals in the ninth Bahrain ITF Juniors Championship at Bahrain Tennis Club (BTC).
Ranked 1,358th on the ITF Juniors Circuit, Ralston gave his best against his 814th-ranked opponent to claim the hard-earned result.
Caleb was one of only two unseeded players to make it through to the last eight.
Saud Alhaqbani of Saudi Arabia was the other. He beat David Qariaqus of Australia 6-3, 6-1 to earn his quarter-final place.
The rest of the seeded players, led by number one Adham Gaber of Egypt, all went through.
Ralston’s heroics earned him a meeting with Gaber in a match scheduled to take place today at BTC.
The others to march on yesterday in the boys’ singles were second seed and defending champion Viktor Jovic of Serbia, third seed Siddharth Thakran of India, fourth seed Mann Shah, also of India, fifth seed Alexandros Roumpis of Greece, and eighth seed Sai Karteek Ganta, also of India.
In the girls’ singles division, Semra Aksu of Turkey upset third seed Charlotte Navin-Weinstein of Great Britain in a hotly contested three-set encounter. Semra needed to battle back from a set down to win 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 and earn her berth in the quarter-finals.
There she is set to face fellow-unseeded player Rishita Vyas of India, who won yesterday against compatriot Smriti Bhasin 6-3, 6-4.
Eleanor Baglow was another unseeded girl to make it to the last eight. The Briton beat American Neha Mokhasi 6-2, 6-3 to advance.
Others through were top seed and defending champion Hala Khaled of Egypt, second seed Weronika Pociej of Poland and fifth seed Zehra Tekbas of Turkey, along with sixth seed Annali Olivelle and seventh seed Eloise Saraty, both from Great Britain.
In doubles categories, there were a number of upsets yesterday.
Amongst the boys, the duo of Joe Leather from Great Britain and Yusuke Tamaki of Japan stunned second-seeded Indians Srivatsa Ratakonda and Thakran 6-3, 6-2.
They booked their berth in the semi-finals, where they are joined by top-seeded tandem Gaber and Jovic, third seeds Shah and Zaveri, and fourth seeds Saudis Alhaqbani and Faisal Alrebdi.
In the girls’ doubles, Bhasin overcame her singles woes and teamed up with compatriot Hrudaya Shah to take down British second seeds Navin-Weinstein and Saraty 6-3, 7-5, (10-7).
Baglow and Olivelle followed suit with a 6-2, 6-0 upset over third-seeded Indian pair of Trisha Vinod and Vyas.
Top seeds Khaled and Pociej qualified after beating Britons Elinor Beazley and Jessica Dhome-Casanova 6-3, 6-1.
Action continues today at BTC from 3pm.
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