TENNIS – ISSAH Ali of Saudi Arabia and Leanne Abouhamad of Australia led eight qualifiers into their respective main draws yesterday in the J30 Isa Town International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournament, played at the Bahrain Tennis Federation (BTF) courts in Isa Town.
The competition is a part of the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors 2025 calendar.
Issah secured his spot in the tournament proper after beating Rami Saouli of Lebanon 6-2, 6-0 in their concluding boys’ qualifier.
Also advancing were Sergi Ramis Coll and Alex Ramis Moyano of Spain, and Tommaso Rosso of Italy.
Sergi outplayed Bexultan Bauyrzhanov 6-2, 6-2 in their match, while Alex beat Andreas Photiades of Cyprus 6-3, 6-1. Tommaso advanced with a hard-earned 6-2, 6-4 triumph against Veer Madam of India.
All four youngsters are now in the boys’ singles main draw, where Issah is also the top seed. Amir Jaber of Jordan is seed number two, while Petr Lifanov of Russia is third and Mustafa Ege Topbas of Turkey fourth.
Seeded fifth through eighth, respectively, are Artem Svetlov and Ivan Makarov of Russia, Georgio Bidan of Lebanon, and Jan Werblinski of Poland.
Amongst the girls, Leanne was joined in clinching a spot in their main draw by Maria Andreou Portselan of Cyprus, Giulia Fiorenza of Italy, and June Grenness Tronhus of Norway.
Leanne defeated Zaina Boodai of Saudi Arabia, who retired from their match; while Maria beat RuoQing Yang of China 6-3, 6-3.
Giulia secured her spot after battling back from behind to beat Nina Kuptsova of Russia 4-6, 6-3, 10-3; and June overcame a tough challenge from Cara Du Toit of Namibia 6-4, 6-4 to march through.
Chenming Zhang of China is the top seed amongst the girls, while Leanne is the second seed. Saiyette Varadkar of India is seed number three, and Milana Kolesova of Russia is fourth. Seeds five through eight, respectively, amongst the girls are Russia’s Katsiaryna Dubik, the Czech Republic’s Ema Chaldova, Egypt’s Sara Dessouky, and Daria Podlipskaya, also of Russia.
Matches are scheduled to get underway from 10am and continue until the afternoon. All are welcome to attend and watch the action. Entrance to the BTF is free of charge.
Aside from the 32 singles players each for both boys and girls, there are also 16 pairings apiece in the boys’ and girls’ doubles.
This week’s J30 Isa Town tournament continues until Saturday. It will be followed by another J30 ITF competition from Monday next week to February 15.
The name J30 reflects the number of ranking points awarded to the singles winner of an ITF juniors tournament.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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