Rowaie, Nader win doubles title

Manama : Second seeds Fuad Rowaie and Nazli Nader defeated top seeds Abdulla Abdulnabi and Malak Fardan in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 to clinch the Seef Dental Ramadan Mixed Doubles Championship 2017, organised by Bahrain Tennis Federation (BTF) at the Bahrain Tennis Federation courts at the Bahrain Polytechnic campus in Isa Town. 

The winning pair had gone into the final with three straight wins without dropping a set, but the opening game they were broken and then Abdulnabi and Fardan then held serve for an early 2-0 lead. 

After holding serve, Rowaie and Nader then won a first break and then went on to dominate the rest of the opening set with two further breaks for a 6-2 win.

The second sets began with both pairs being broken, before Rowaie and Nader then effected a break in the fourth game and then went 4-1 up.

The next three games all went with serve, though Abdulnabi and Fardan fought hard to stay in the match and resisted well in the eighth to stop their opponent securing victory when on match point.

Abdulnabi and Fardan won a break in the ninth to maintain some hope after again denying Rowaie and Nader victory at match point for a second time, their hopes were short lived as the latter broke in the tenth to secure the title after around 70 minutes of action, which saw two Bahrain Federation Cup players in action.

Rowaie and Nader advanced to the final, winning in the Round of 16 by 6-3, 6-1 against Bryant S Arante and Almie A Dela Roz, 6-2, 6-2 against Gregg Esquivel and Amie Canlas in the quarter finals and 6-0, 6-2 against Mohammed Gaith and Natalia Matskevych in the semi-finals, while Abdulnabi and Fardan were 7-6, 7-5 winners against Omar Ramirez and Abby Pelagio in the Round of 16, 6-3, 7-5, 10-2 against Hisham Ameer and Anie in the quarter finals and 3-6, 6-1, 10-3 against Abdul Rahman Thawadi and Rose Halili in the semi-finals. 

The final was attended by the sponsors Seef Dental represented by Finance Director, Hanne Hansen and Cosmetic Dentist, Arthur Ertonga who presented trophies to the finalists.

After the match Hansen said, “The final was very entertaining and we hope to be involved in sponsoring more sports events in the future.”