IT was a day of upsets yesterday in the 10th Bahrain ITF Juniors Championships at Bahrain Tennis Club (BTC), and there was none bigger than Lou Baudouin of France stunning Girls’ Singles top seed Tuana Tinaztepe of Turkey.
Lou had a stunning victory in an epic three-set thriller that lasted nearly four hours. The 14-year-old, who is ranked 2,390th in the world, battled back from a set down to beat 16-year-old Tuana (ranked 826th) 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-2 and book her seat in the quarter-finals.
“I am very happy with my win; I thought at the beginning that I was going to lose but I did not give up,” said Lou following her hard-earned triumph. “Our match was very close. I did not like how I played in the first set. After that I had to search in my reserves because I had a very hard opponent and our games were very long. I played better in the last two sets and I was able to get the win.”
Lou wasn’t the only dark horse to eliminate seeded opposition in singles action. Joining her amongst the girls were Britons Ellie Aldrich and Megan Davies; while from the boys, Egyptians Abd Elrahman Hassan and Youssef Nabil, as well as Victor Paganetti from France, were all victorious against ranked rivals.
In the other Girls’ Singles upsets, Ellie (2,749th) registered just as big a stunner after ousting second seed Oceane Babel (870th) of France 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Megan, who is tied with Ellie on the girls’ world rankings, followed suit with her own three-set victory against seventh seed Elif Sanem Karadag (1,231st) of Turkey 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
The others who advanced to the Girls’ Singles quarter-finals were fourth seed Sanne Schalekamp (949th) of the Netherlands, fifth seed Jessica Dhome-Casanova (1,043rd) of Great Britain, sixth seed Nina Danisova (1,127th) of Slovakia, eighth seed Hrudaya Shah (1,258th) of India and unseeded Briton Hannah Smith (1,976th).
Victorious
In the Boys’ Singles, Hassan (ranked 1,668th amongst boys in the world) was on the verge of elimination before fighting back and upsetting third seed Matthew Rutter (1,252nd) of Great Britain 1-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3.
Hassan now moves on to the last eight, where he is joined by countryman Nabil (1,933rd), who secured his spot in the tournament through the qualifying draw.
Yesterday’s results:
Girls’ Singles (Second Round): [4] Sanne Schalekamp (NED) bt Erika Weil (CAN) 6-2, 6-2; Megan Davies (GBR) bt [7] Elif Sanem Karadag (TUR) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4; Ellie Aldrich (GBR) bt [2] Oceane Babel (FRA) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; [6] Nina Danisova (SVK) bt Lama Nabil (EGY) 6-0, 6-1; Lou Baudouin (FRA) bt [1] Tuana Tinaztepe (TUR) 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-2; [5] Jessica Dhome-Casanova (GBR) bt Andra Izabella Sirbu (ROU) 6-3, 5-7, 6-1; [8] Hrudaya Shah (IND) bt Rosaleen Alioussef (RUS) 4-6, 6-2, 6-2; Hannah Smith (GBR) bt Saniya Masand (IND) 6-2, 6-2.
Girls’ Doubles Quarter-finals: [1] T/Tinaztepe (TUR)/O Babel (FRA) bt M Davies (GBR)/A Leather (GBR) 6-3, 5-7, 10-8; [3] S Schalekamp (NED)/E Weil (CAN) bt H Shah (IND)/R Singh (IND) 7-5, 6-2; E Aldrich (GBR)/H Smith (GBR) bt R Alioussef (RUS)/A Lajos (HUN) 6-1, 6-0; [2] N Danisova (SVK)/J Dhome-Casanova (GBR) bt R Chauhan (IND)/T Nanda (IND) 6-1, 6-1.
Boys’ Singles Second Round: [1] Saud Alhaqbani (KSA) bt Haruki Omori-Cowie (GBR) 4-6, 6-2, 6-1; Abd Elrahman Hassan (EGY) bt [3] Matthew Rutter (GBR) 1-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3; [2] Charles Barry (IRL) bt Romain Gales (FRA) 6-0, 6-3; Victor Paganetti (FRA) bt Panagiotis Nearchou (CYP) 6-1, 6-1; [7] Christopher Fok Kow (MRI) bt Muneer Alrawahi (OMA) 6-3, 4-6, 6-0; Alexandre De Villepin (FRA) bt Omar Morsy (EGY) 6-3, 6-1; Youssef Nabil (EGY) bt [6] Essa Qabazard (KUW) 6-1, 6-0; Oliver Richards (GBR) bt Alexandre Ver Hulst (FRA) 6-3, 6-1.
Boys’ Doubles Quarter-finals: [1] C Barry (IRL)M Rutter (GBR) bt H Omorie Cowie (GBR)/V Paganetti (FRA) 6-1, 2-6, 10-4; R Gales (FRA)/W Jucha (FRA) bt [2] A Al Barwani (OMA)/S Alhaqbani (KSA) 3-6, 6-3, 14-12; [4] C Fok Kow (MRI)/R Jaideep (IND) bt O El Shehawy (EGY)/K Ibrahim (EGY) 2-6, 6-4, 10-5; A Hassan (EGY)/Y Nabil (EGY) bt P Nearchou (CYP)/A Pustovit (RUS) 6-4, 6-0.
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