Bahrain ITF underway today

Manama : The singles qualifying rounds in the men’s Bahrain ITF Futures Tennis Tournament at the Bahrain Tennis Club in Juffair get underway today with five matches at 10.30am and a second session featuring 10 Bahraini players slated for 4pm.

Both men’s and women’s events are taking place in the tournament, which concludes on April 2 with $10,000 in prize money for each category, with matches played on hard courts.

In the men’s singles, top seed is last year’s runner-up Scott Griekspoor of the Netherlands ranked 331 in the world with last year’s winner and fifth seed Tobias Simon ranked 623 back to defend his title.

The second and third seeds are also from the Netherlands, Lennert Van Der Linden (547) and Tallon Griekspoor (565). Seeds four to eight are Yannick Maden (Germany, 596), Simon (623), Lorenzo Frigerio (Italy, 816), Kunal Arnold (India, 933) and Terri Groll (France, 949).

Bahrain will be represented by 10 players in a bid to qualify for the main draw (when matches start on Monday).

In the women’s singles, defending champion and second seed Fatma Al Nabhani of Oman ranked 308 is back in the fray to defend her title as is German Vivian Heisen ranked 603. 

The top seed is Chinese Lu Jiajang ranked 207, with Indian Prerna Bhambri (401) third seed and Kazakhstan’s Kamila Kerimbayeva (409) fourth.

Seeds from fifth to eighth are Katharina Lehnert (Philippines, 441), Pia Konig (Austria, 448), Tereza Mihalikova (Slovakia, 501), Riya Bhatia (India, 577).

The tournament in its fifth edition is being held under the patronage of HH Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Representative of His Majesty the King for Charity Works and Youth Affairs, Chairman of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports and President of Bahrain Olympic Committee.

Event sponsors are Bahrain Duty Free, Solidarity Holding, GPIC and Bapco.

Today’s schedule: (10.30am - 5 matches). (4pm- Bahraini players selected): Kareem Abdulnabi (Brn) vs Hassan Al Qattan (Brn), Ali Al Asfoor (Brn) vs Ali Dawani (Brn), Roy Boutagy (Brn) vs Abhishek Konar (Ind), Hamad Abdul A’al (Brn) vs Ronaldo Taal Anacin (Phi), Mohammed Essam Abdul A’al (Brn) vs Bastiaan Loohuis (Ned), Yousuf Dhaif (Brn) vs Saleh Al Mattar (KSA), Yousif Qaed (Brn) vs Thomas Linge (Nor), Ammar Al Shaikh (Brn) vs Jugal Boruah (Ind).