TENNIS – Kristina Overina from Russia upset top seed Lisa Anzai from Japan in three sets yesterday to march through to the girls’ singles quarter-finals in the J60 Manama Bahrain ITF Juniors tournament, currently being played at the Bahrain Tennis Federation (BTF) hard courts in Isa Town.
Kristina battled back from an opening-set sweep to defeat Lisa 0-6, 6-1, 6-2 in their round-of-16 clash.
She is now set to face off with Dutch qualifier Mila van der Lecq in the elite eight. Mila was a 6-1, 6-1 winner against eighth seed Elise Virr from Australia yesterday.
Three other Russian players are also still in title contention along with Kristina, including second seed Anna Bazderova, fourth seed Lidia Fadeeva, and fifth seed Daria Belyakova.
Anna will be facing seventh seed Riko Shozui from Japan in another quarter-final, while also in this stage, Lidia takes on Sara Dessouky from Egypt, and Daria faces third seed Melis Yildrim from Türkiye.
Meanwhile, in yesterday’s boys’ singles matches, number one seed Arnav Paparkar from India needed to battle back from a set down to advance to the quarters.
Arnav defeated Matija Putic from Serbia 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 to power through, and will next take on Jordanian qualifier Amir Jaber, who ousted seventh-seeded Japanese opponent Daisuke Hashimoto 6-4, 7-5.
Also advancing yesterday was second seed Omar Kandil from Egypt, who beat Indian wild card Hursh Patel 6-1, 6-1. Omar plays Russian fifth Rafael Asadullin in the last eight.
Rafael beat Igor Piasek from Poland 6-3, 6-3 in the round of 16.
The other boys’ quarters contests pit third seed Doruk Calikoglu from Türkiye against Nikita Berdin from Russia, and eighth seed Pavel Joromsky Jr, also from Russia, with Sergi Ramis Coll from Spain.
All quarter-final matches are scheduled for today at the BTF.
The competition is part of this year’s International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Tennis Tour Juniors Calendar.
Play continues all week, with the tournament scheduled to conclude on Saturday. All are welcome to watch. Entry to the BTF is free.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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