Jelle Sels, Kolar crowned singles champions
Manama : Jelle Sels of the Netherlands and Nastja Kolar of Slovenia were crowned Singles champions yesterday night of the Bahrain ITF Futures Tennis Tournament 2018, which came to an exciting close at Bahrain Tennis Club (BTC) in Juffair.
Sels and Kolar were both third seeds in their draws and both were playing their first time in Bahrain.
Sels clinched the Men’s Singles title after defeating unseeded Riccardo Maiga of Switzerland 6-7 (6), 6-1, 6-3. Kolar beat fourth seed Tereza Mihalikova 6-4, 6-2 to secure the Women’s Singles crown.
“I’m really happy with myself; this is my first ITF title of the year and I will probably come back here to Bahrain next year because everything was great – nice facilities, great organisation, many tough opponents and I also really like the hot weather,” said 22-year- old Sels.
Twenty-three- year-old Kolar added: “It was a really tough tournament, but I really loved playing here in Bahrain. The level of the players was really strong – anybody in the top 10 could have won.” It was her second triumph of this year on the ITF Women’s Circuit.
The pair were awarded their respective trophies in a prize presentation and closing ceremony. In attendance were Representative of HH Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa Minister of Sports Hisham Al Jowder, Bahrain Tennis Federation (BTF) President HH Shaikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Salman Al Khalifa, BTF Deputy President HH Shaikh Abdulaziz bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, E K Kanoo Vice-Chairman Fuad Kanoo, BTC Honorary President Dr. Ali Fakhro, BTC President Khamis Al Muqla, BTC Board Member Dr. Faisal Al Mosawi and Capital Governorate Deputy Governor Hassan Al Madani.
Special tokens of appreciation were also given out to E K Kanoo Senior Manager of Toyota Marketing Ayman Shehadeh, Tournament Director Ali Khonji, Tournament Referee Dr. Ashraf Hamouda and Tournament Facilities Committee Director Khalid Ghuloom.
Sels, who is ranked 534th in the world, needed to fight back from a set down before claiming the Men’s Singles crown. After losing the first set in a tie-break, he cruised to an easy win in the second. In the third set, Sels enjoyed a 3-1 advantage but Maiga, ranked 1,299th, tried to make things interesting and fought back to within 5-3. He then clinched his title in style, sweeping all four points.
“In the second set I just went more for my shots; in the semi-finals I also lost the first set in a tie-break so I was not worried about my ability to fight back,” Sels said.
“In the third set, I stayed as focused as I can and tried to tell myself that I could do it. I know what I am capable of and I just tried to play my best, and normally that would be enough to win.”
In the Women’s Singles, Kolar, who is ranked 411th in the world, broke Mihalikova, ranked 404th, in three crucial moments in the final: in the first set with the scores tied at 4-4 and then twice in the second set, at the very beginning and again when things were level at 2-2.
That helped her secure her championship as she won the next four straight games.
With her win at BTC, Kolar added to her triumph in Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt in another US$15,000 tournament held in mid-February.
Sels and Kolar join doubles winners Marek Gengel and Dominik Kellovsky of the Czech Republic, plus Marian Jane Capadocia from the Philippines and Fatma Al Nabhani of Oman, as champions in Bahrain.
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