Jovic, Fouad clinch titles

Manama : Unseeded Victor Jovic of Serbia clinched the Boys singles title and second seed Egyptian Hala Fouad clinched the Girls Singles title as the Eighth Bahrain ITF Junior Championships hosted by the BTC in Juffair, was concluded yesterday.

In the Boys final 14-year old Jovic ranked 2,058 from Belgrade defeated 16-year old British opponent Sebastian Tong ranked 1,531 from Reading, England 7-6(2), 6-0 in a match lasting around 100 minutes.

Jovic won an early break in the second game of the first set after going to deuce four times and held serve in the next game for a 3-0 lead. Tong managed to open his account in the fourth game but then went on to lose his next to games to trail 5-1.

In a dramatic turnaround of fortune, Tong won four matches on the trot to level at 5-5 and after both players held serve in their next games it went into a tie-break, with Jovic dominating 7-2.

The second set was totally one-sided as Tong struggled, with his main resistance being in the second game which going eight times to deuce. Jovic took advantage of a clearly tired Tong to win all six games in the set and clinch the title.

In the Girls final, 17-year old Egyptian and second seed Fouad ranked 441 from Cairo ran out a comfortable 6-1, 6-0 winner over Great Britain’s 16-year old fourth seed Alexandra Hunter from Edinburgh, Scotland ranked 682. After both players held their opening service games, it was Fouad who dominated the rest of the match.

Fouad managed two breaks of serve to clinch the first set despite strong resistance particularly in the sixth and seventh games. The second set began with the first game being well contested and going to deuce four times, but the young Briton lost her way and was overwhelmed by her Egyptian opponent who took the title.

The championship finals and closing ceremony were attended by patron of the event, HH Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, Deputy Prime Minister, Saleh Isa Bin Hindi, HM the King’s Advisor for Youth and Sports Affairs, Hisham Mohammed Al Jowder, Minister of Youth and Sports Affairs, Abdulla Al Shatti from the Kuwait Embassy, Shelin Chacko, Corporate Identity E.K Kanoo, Ashraf Bseisu, Group Chief Executive of Solidarity Group Holding, Dr Ali Fakhro, Honorary President of BTC and  Khamis Al Muqla, President of BTC.