TENNIS – THE curtain fell on the second week of the International Tennis Federation U-18 Championship for the J30 category, with Turkish player Ramadan Oktay winning the boys’ singles title for the second week in a row, while Pakistan’s Hania Aman bagged the girls’ singles championship.
Egypt’s Iyad Reda and Ramadan Oktay presented a strongly contested final of the championship, hosted by the Bahrain Tennis Federation (BTF) at its court in Isa Town.
The Turkish player had taken the first week’s championship at the expense of another Egyptian, Khaled Ibrahim.
Ramadan took the first set 7-6 (5), and Iyad responded by winning the second set 7-6 (4) to set up the decider, with the players holding serve until 4-4. Ramadan then changed gears to win the next two games and take the final set 6-4.
In the girls’ singles final, Pakistani Hania defeated Russia’s Alyssa Grinkovich 6-1, 6-2 and ended the tournament without losing a set in the main round (round of 32) until the final.
Tournament director and BTF secretary general Fouad Al-Ruwaiei, board members Mohammed Salman and Adnan Kamal, along with chief referee Ahmed Al Hawaj, presented trophies and medals to the singles and doubles finalists.
Other results – Doubles finals-Boys: Iyad Reda & Oscar Reilly (NETH) bt Ramadan Oktay & Akto Biberli (TUR) 6-2, 7-6 (4); Girls: Luisa Fossil (SLO) & Jelena Lebo (FRA) bt Ioana Pouyanne & Simona Chuco (ROM) 6-3, 5-7, 10-7.