Top seeded Ammar Al Hogbani from the USA has been eliminated from the semifinals of the seventh Bahrain ITF Juniors Championship which took place yesterday at Bahrain Tennis Club in Juffair.
His loss came against 15-year-old Yousef Khames from Egypt who he had beaten two weeks ago in the ITF tournament in Kuwait.
Ammar’s 6-1 win in the first set only motivated Yousef to ensure that the top-seeded player was denied another win against him.
Yousef pulled off a turnaround in the second and third sets to win 1-6, 6-4, 6-4.
The 15-year-old described the win as an unforgettable one, making it two finals in one month.
“I did not expect to win the match. I was very worried during the game but I was keen to stop him from defeating me for a second consecutive time,” said the Egyptian who looks up to Swiss Roger Federer as his idol.
Yousef, who has been playing tennis for the past 11 years, only started taking part in ITF competitions four months ago.
“It’s been a hectic tournament and I’ve been playing for four weeks straight. I hope my fitness allows me to perform in the final because it would mean a lot to me,” said the right-handed player.
The other semi-final saw Fahad Al Janahi of the UAE beat Kaloyan Dimitrov of Bulgaria 7-5, 6-3.
Fahad, who had earlier eliminated second-seeded Mohamed Abdelaziz of Egypt, continued his splendid display and impressed spectators with his performance.
The 17-year-old voiced his struggles after the match yesterday.
“It wasn’t an easy draw for me. I started out with a player who had come out of the qualifiers but then I had to face second-seeded Mohamed Abdelaziz which was a very tough game early on,” said the player who favours Andy Murray as his tennis champion.
Fahad had never got past a singles quarter-final despite participating in ITF competitions for the past three years.
“It will be my first singles final so it means so much to me. I expect Yousef to give me a tough fight but I always say I can win so hopefully I will,” he said.
The boys’ singles will take place tomorrow.
Meanwhile, top-seeded Emelie Luisa Scwarte of Germany booked her place in the girls’ singles final.
Emelie managed a tough victory over Great Britian’s Camille Verden Anderson 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Eighth-seeded Themis Haliou of Cyprus will challenge Emelie for the title.
Themis held off Germany’s Lara Schmid 6-0, 7-5.
The girls’ singles final will take place tomorrow.
There were no surprised in the boys’ doubles semi-finals as top seed Ammar Al Hogbani from USA and his teammate Mohamed Abdelaziz from Egypt battled past Patricio Nieto of Mexico and third seed Julian Robinson of Great Britain 4-6, 6-2, 10-8 to enter tomorrow’s final.
Swiss player Carlos Kelaidis and Cyprus’ Eleftherios Neos emerged as the other finalists after defeating Adham Gaber of Egypt and Ulas Boran Ulusoy of Turkey 6-1, 7-5.
The girls’ doubles semi-final saw Emelie Luisa Scwarte from Germany and Camile Verden Anderson of Great Britain beat Turkish Duo Ayca Erturk and Zehra Lara Tekbas 6-1, 6-2.
In tomorrow’s final, they will clash against British duo Donia Abdelaziz and Lily Reynolds who managed to defeat Egypt’s Sara El Ghazouly and Nancy Fawzy 6-4, 2-6, 10-4.
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