Doubles winners crowned
Manama : The women’s pairing of Marian Jade Capadocia and Fatma Al Nabhani, and the men’s tandem of Marek Gengel and Dominik Kellovsky, were on Friday evening crowned champions of their respective doubles competitions in the Bahrain ITF Futures Tennis Tournament 2018 at Bahrain Tennis Club (BTC).
Meanwhile, third seed Nastja Kolar of Slovenia set up an exciting title clash with fourth seed Tereza Mihalikova of Slovakia in the Women’s Singles. On the men’s side, unseeded Riccardo Maiga of Switzerland will take on third seed Jelle Sels of the Netherlands for the right to claim their Singles crown.
Both finals are scheduled for today at the BTC hardcourts. The women’s match is at 3pm, followed by the men’s no earlier than 5pm. The awards presentation and closing ceremony follow.
The new doubles champions were handed over their trophies yesterday night in a ceremony attended by BTC President Khamis Al Muqla; BTC Board Members Dr. Faisal Al Mosawi, Hussain Al Mukharraq and Khalid Ghuloom; and Tournament Director Ali Khonji.
The Bahrain ITF Futures Tennis Tournament 2018 is being held under the patronage of His Majesty the King’s Charity Works and Youth Affairs Representative, Supreme Council for Youth and Sports Chairman and Bahrain Olympic Committee President Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa. It is supported by the Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs and is sponsored by E K Kanoo and Bahrain Duty Free.
In the Doubles, fan favourites Capadocia from the Philippines and Al Nabhani of Oman upset the top-seeded pairing of Valeria Bhunu of Zimbabwe and Emily Webley-Smith of Great Britain 7-5, 6-2. They battled back from a 2-4 deficit in a tight first set, and then in the second took a 5-0 lead before securing their championship in another three games.
In the Men’s Doubles final, the Czech pair of Gengel and Kellovsky lived up to their billing as second seeds in beating American fourth seeds Robert Galloway and Anderson Reed 6-3, 3-6, [10-6]. They took home their winners’ trophy in a match that lasted an hour and 22 minutes.
Kolar upsets top seed Lemoine
In the Women’s Singles, Kolar, ranked 411th in the world, upset top seed Quirine Lemoine of the Netherlands, ranked 322nd, 6-3, 6-4. After a strong first set, Kolar broke Lemoine twice in the second, including in the crucial ninth game to take a 5-4 lead before holding serve to win the match.
For Mihalikova, she overcame a tough challenge against eighth seed Kanika Vaidya of India 7-5, 7-5 in an exciting two-hour encounter. Ranked 404th in the world, Mihalikova needed to break Viadya, ranked 700th, in both the first and second sets with the scores tied at 5-5 each before closing things out in the ensuing games.
In the Men’s Singles, Maiga was first to book his ticket to the Men’s final after taking down Kellovsky in a three-set thriller that lasted two hours and 36 minutes. It was a heart-breaking loss for Kellovsky, who headed into Friday’s action as the only player remaining in the entire competition still with a chance to win both the Singles and Doubles titles. Kellovsky settled for just the Men’s Doubles crown.
After splitting the first two sets, Maiga, ranked 1,299th in the world, took a 3-1 lead and later turned it to a slim 5-4 advantage. Kellovsky, ranked 957th, then appeared on his way to tying things at 5-5, taking the game’s first three points and going 40-0 up. But Maiga dug deep and rallied to take the next six points to finally end the match and confirm his ticket to the
final.
The other Men’s Singles semi-final between Sels and Rikl was one of the most tightly contested affairs of the entire tournament, going on for over three hours. With the first two sets decided on a tie-break, the third was surely to be another hard fight. Both players exchanged games until a 4-4 tie, but then Sels, ranked 534th in the world, broke Rikl, ranked 701st, and he rode his momentum in the last match-clinching game, which included two huge
aces.
This year’s Bahrain ITF Futures Tennis Tournament features a total prie fund of a staggering $30,000 for both the men’s and women’s competitions. Players from more than 50 nations have registered to compete.
The Bahrain ITF Futures tournaments provide the entry level of professional tournaments, enabling players to reach higher-level competitions on both the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) World Tour and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Tour. For more information, contact BTC on +973-17729561 or e-mail bahrain.tennisclub@gmail.com.
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