Janahi, Hassan lift doubles title

Manama : Ahmed Janahi and Salman Hassan defeated Ali Al Asfoor and Roy Boutagy in straight sets 6-3, 6-3 to clinch The Late Majid Al Zayani Cup - Super Doubles title at the Bahrain Tennis Club (BTC) 2017 Ramadan Tournament at its premises on Tuesday night in Juffair.

Al Asfoor and Boutagy started on a hopeful note when they broke Janahi and Hassan in the opening game of the first set and raced into an early 3-1 lead.

However, Janahi and Hassan regrouped and broke in the sixth game to level at 3-3 and then won a further three games on the trot including a second break to clinch the first set which lasted just over 30 minutes, after taking advantage of errors by their opponents’.

In the second set, Janahi and Hassan won a break in the third game for a 2-1 lead and though the next five games went with serve, Al Asfoor and Boutagy were broken after trailing 3-5 and were unable to save the match which lasted a shade over an hour.

Meanwhile, in the third round of round-robin matches in The Late Ahmed Al Mahoozi Cup - Masters Singles, Dutchman Rick De Groot came from a set down to defeat Bahrain national team player Yousef Qaed 4-6, 6-1, 10-5 in a Group 1 match.

In another Group 1 match, Abdul Rahman Janahi received a walk over win from Elias Abdul Redha.

Group 2 saw two no-shows Rahul Jaideep receiving a walkover win from Ali Al Afsoor, while Karim Abdul Redha received a walkover win from Ahmed Janahi (as the latter has since withdrawn).

The competition now features eight players split into two groups of four playing three sets of round-robin matches, with the final qualifying matches played last night and tonight, with the top two qualifying for the semi-finals tomorrow and the final set for Saturday, with all remaining matches starting at 9.30pm.