Aleina, Ali clinch juniors titles

Manama : Second seed Aleina Alex shocked top seed Areej Fareh to win the Girls 18 years and under singles title in thrilling style 6-3, 2-6, 10-8 as the 21st Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait (BBK) Juniors Open Tennis Championship concluded on Wednesday evening at the Bahrain Tennis Club (BTC) premises in Juffair.

Aleina got the match underway winning her opening service game as both girls did likewise for the first four games.

The first break came when Aleina effected a break only for Areej to cancel that out in the next game with the score at 3-3.

Aleina then broke her opponent twice on her next two service games and clinched the first set 6-3.

In the second set, both players won their opening service games, but Areej then went 2-1 up with a break, though Aleina then won a break before Areej won 4 games in a row to take the second set 6-2 and level the match.

In a thrilling tie-break third set, Aleina was easily cruising at one stage 5-2 ahead, but Areej came back strongly and won four points in a row for a 6-5 lead and was on the cusp of victory at 8-7.

Aleina then won two points on her serve for a 9-8 lead and made sure of the title when winning the final point and the set.

The Boys 16 years and under singles title was won 6-4, 6-2 by top seed Ali Dawani against second seed Yousif Dhaif with Ali getting the all-important break and getting an early 2-1 lead. All seven remaining games went with serve to give Ali the set 6-4.

In the second set, Ali raced into a 4-0 lead thanks to two breaks and was a comfortable winner despite late resistance from Yousif as the final four games all went with serve.

In the two Unisex finals, top seed Essa Al Qattan beat second seed Tristan Manners 7-2 games in the 9-10 years singles and the 6-8 years singles was won by top seed Rushikesh Sonawane 4-1 games by third seed Vyom Gupta.

The finals and awarding ceremony were attended by patron of the event

BBK’s Chief Executive Officer, Abdul Karim Bucheery, The King’s Advisor for Youth and Sport Affairs, Saleh Bin Isa Bin Hindi, Minister of Youth and Sports Affairs, Hisham bin Mohammed Al Jowder, Deputy Chief Executive of BBK, Reyadh Yousif Sater, President of BTC, Khamis Al Muqla and other invited guests, club officials and a large number of spectators.