India’s Aravind extends qualifying bid

TDT | Manama                                                      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Aravind Binoj Kizhuppillil of India led eight players in the final round of the boys’ singles qualifying draw yesterday for the Bahrain International Tennis Federation (ITF) Juniors Tournament 2024.

Aravind lived up to his billing as the qualifiers’ top seed and won 6-2, 6-1 against Yulin Li of China to book his place in the last stage.

Four youngsters will book their spots in the 32-player boys’ singles main draw, which gets underway tomorrow at the Bahrain Tennis Federation (BTF) courts in Isa Town.

This competition is a J30 event, which is part of this year’s ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors Calendar.

Aravind will next place Mohammad Alawadhi of Kuwait in qualifying’s concluding stage. Mohammad booked his place with a hard-earned 6-0, 6-7 (4), 10-5 win against sixth seed Egor Zhilkin.

In another match, second seed Petter Christopher Berg Hagen of Norway will take on seventh seed Abdulrahman Al Abdullah of Kuwait.

Petter was a 2-6, 6-2, 10-7 victor against Chinese wild card Zurui Zhang, while Abdulrahman won 6-3, 3-6, 10-4 against American Ahmad Mushahid.

Fifth seed Jorge Batarse of Mexico will face Noe Boulnoix of Switzerland in another decisive boys’ qualifier today. Jorge beat Kerem Tufekci of Turkey 3-6, 6-4, 10-8, while Noe was a 6-3, 6-3 winner against Alexey Zhilkin.

The fourth and last qualifier will be between eighth seed Klas Gorensek of Slovenia and Canadian wild card Filip Malis.

Klas beat India’s Mohammed Zahaan Siddiqui 6-0, 6-4, while Filip upset fourth seed Juan Diego Chacon Quesada of Costa Rica 6-4, 6-1.

Meanwhile, in the girls’ singles qualifying draw, four players have booked their places in the main round.

They include Bahraini Salma Faragallah, Joanna Strzelecka of Poland, Jolie Marie Kaiser of Germany and Cara Du Toit of Namibia.

The tournament, which continues until Saturday later this weekend, will also feature doubles play for both boys and girls.

The J30 event will be followed by another of its kind between February 26 and March 2, forming an impressive backto-back of ITF juniors events in the Kingdom.