HAKANARDA Aydin of Türkiye led four qualifiers into the boys’ singles main draw yesterday in the Bahrain ITF Juniors Tournament 2024, being played at the Bahrain Tennis Federation (BTF) hardcourts in Isa Town.
Joining him were compatriot Kaya Cankardes, Tudor Alexandru Zecheru of Romania, and Mohammed Makki of Yemen.
Meanwhile, four girls also made it to their singles’ main draw, including Xinru Zhong of China, Esila Toklu of Türkiye, Maria Nicol of Great Britain, and Layan Mohamed Shamin of the Maldives.
The competition is a J60 event – meaning that the singles winners take away 60 ranking points – and it is the third on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Tennis Tour Juniors Calendar to be held in the kingdom. Two J30 championships also took place at the BTF last month, along with the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group V and the just-concluded Billie Jean King Cup Asia/Oceania Group III, making for an exciting few weeks for the local tennis community.
Aydin, the boys’ top seed in qualifying, secured his spot in the main draw after defeating sixth seed Ghannam Alghannam of Saudi Arabia 6-4, 3-6, 10-3. Cankardes had a cool 6-2, 6-2 win against Yassin Mohaed Hussain of Egypt to earn his berth, while second-seeded Zecheru beat Haider Alafraid of Saudi 6-2, 6-0 to advance. Makki completed the boys’ qualifiers with a 7-6, (6), 6-2 upset victory over eighth-seed Saad Bukadida of Tunisia.
The four qualifiers are now set for a tougher campaign in the boys’ singles first round. Aydin will go up against number one seed Marat Salbiev, Cankardes will take on fifth seed Matija Putic of Serbia, Zecheru will play Spaniard Victor Velasco Caballer, and Makki will lock horns with Türkiye’s Yagiz Yildiz.
Bahrain is to be represented by a pair of its top young players in the boys’ singles, namely Faris Al Toobli and Ahmed Al Sayed, both of whom are wild cards.
On the distaff, Nicol and Shamin needed to win their concluding qualifying matches yesterday to earn their places in the girls’ singles main draw. Playing as qualifying’s third seed, Nicol outclassed Zaina Boodal of Saudi 6-0, 6-0 to march through, while Shamin beat Bahrain’s Salma Faragallah 6-0, 6-2 to advance.
Zhong had a bye in the decisive round of qualifiers, and will now take on girls’ number one seed Masa Jankovic of Serbia in the first round. Toklu, who also had a bye, will face Maria Alexandra Mateas of Romania, Nicol will play fifth seed Dicle Izgi of Türkiye, and Shamin will go up against Caroline Hermanns of Denmark.
Faragallah will be the lone Bahraini player amongst the girls, having secured her place as a lucky loser.