Faisal wins U14 title in epic battle

Top seed Faisal Yousef held his nerve to come from a set down to defeat Yuya Wakamatsu 2-6, 6-1, 17-15 in an epic battle to clinch the Boys 14 years-and-under singles title yesterday at the Fourth E.K Kanoo Junior Open Tennis Championships at the Bahrain Tennis Club (BTC) premises in Juffair.

In a match lasting around an hour and a half and featuring many long rallies, Yuya dominated the opening set despite being broken by Faisal in the third game to trail 1-2.

Yuya went on to win the next five games to secure the set, despite having to work really hard to clinch the decisive game after he was on set point on five occasions.

The second set began with both players being broken in their opening service games before Faisal took the set by the scruff of the neck and won five games in succession to tie the match.

It was thrilling stuff to the end as both players matched the other for points in the third set tie-break except when Yuya briefly had a 8-6 lead and a service advantage, but Faisal fought back and managed to secure a two point advantage for the title.

Afterwards, Faisal a 14-year-old student at Isa Town Secondary School said, “The first set was tough, I managed to find my rhythm in the second and held my nerve in the tie-break.

Yuya a 13-year-old student at the Japanese School in Saar said, “I started well in winning the first set, lost my way in the second and the tie-break was a case of one player playing to win and the other trying not to lose.”

In the Boys 12 years-and-under semi-finals in the tournament that runs till Wednesday, top seed Sparsh Parmar brushed aside the challenge of Mohammed Al Shehabi 6-1, 6-0 and Ken Belt upset second seed Sai Raghav Balakrishnan 6-1, 6-1.