Double win for Schwarte

Top seeded Emelie Luisa Schwarte of Germany, ranked 509, cruised to victory winning 6-0, 6-3 against eighth seeded Themis Haliou of Cyprus, ranked 1220, to clinch the girls singles crown yesterday on the penultimate day of the Seventh Bahrain ITF Junior Tennis Championships being played at the Bahrain Tennis Club (BTC) in Juffair.

From the first serve in the opening set, the 16-year- old German had control of her destiny and faced little resistance in the first four games to hold a 4-0 lead and two breaks.

The fifth game saw the 16-year old from Cyprus offer more in the way of resistance and force deuce, but she couldn’t take advantage and lost the game and the set soon after in a little over 20 minutes.

In the second set, Haliou played a much better game and broke Schwarte in the opening game and managed to hold serve for an early 2-0 lead.

The next three games went with serve as Haliou led 3-2 and she should have made it 4-2 on her serve in the next game with advantage twice, but Schwarte fought back and then won a break to level at 3-3.

In the seventh and eighth games, both went to deuce with Schwarte holding serve in the seventh for a 4-3 lead, but the eighth was decisive as the German effected a break after a dubious line-call went against the Cypriot.

Schwarte made sure of the title after an hour of play when she held serve. Schwarte along with Briton Camille Verden Anderson lived up their billing as top seeds in the girls doubles finals as they defeated the second seeded British duo of Donia Abdel-Aziz and Lily Reynolds in straight sets 6-0, 6-4.

The first set was very comfortable for the top seeds as they cruised through without dropping a game and though they faced more resistance in the second set, they prevailed as Schwarte celebrated a personal double success at the championships.

In the boys doubles final, second seeds Carlos Kelaidis of Switzerland and Eleftherios Neos of Cyprus clinched the title with a come from behind 4-6, 6-2, 10-6 win over top seeds Ammar Al Hogbani of the US and Mohammed Abdel- Aziz.

The opening two games were won against serve before the next five were with serve with Al Hogbani and Abdel-Aziz leading 4-3, then the next three were breaks as the American- Egyptian duo won the first set.

In the second set Kelaidis and Neos raced into a 3-1 lead and though their opponent won the next game the next three were won by the Swiss and Cypriot duo.

In the super-tie break third set, Kelaidis and Neos race into a 5-1, but were pegged back to 5-5 and then clinched the title with three unanswered points at the end.

The matches were attended by chief guest HM the King’s Advisor for Youth and Sports Affairs, Saleh bin Esa bin Hindi and BTC President, Khamis Al Muqla.

Event gold sponsors are Solidarity Group Holding BSC and E K Kanoo. The event is being held in collaboration with the General Organisation for Youth and Sports and under the patronage of Deputy Prime Minister Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa.

Today’s schedule: (5.30pm): Boys Singles: Yousef Khamis vs Fahad Al Janahi (UAE).