Endler-Trochu cruise in boys’ doubles

Boys’ top seeds Mark Owen Endler of Great Britain and Pablo Trochu of France, along with girls’ third seeds Caroline Fawzy and Hagar Ramadan from Egypt, cruised into their respective doubles quarter-finals yesterday in the 11th Bahrain ITF Tennis Juniors Championship 2019, being played at Bahrain Tennis Club (BTC) in Juffair.

Endler and Trochu posted a resounding 6-0, 6-0 victory over Bahraini wild cards Mohamed Al Shehabi and Mohammed Alkhan to march through to the Boys’ Doubles last eight. Caroline and Hagar followed suit in the Girls’ Doubles, booking their tickets to the quarters after beating Tanya Nanda of India and Andra Izabella Sirbu of Romania 6-2, 5-7, 10-3 in a super tie-break Meanwhile, the British pair of Daniel Abernethy and Matteo Fuschillo surprised boys’ second seeds Boris Stastny of the Czech Republic and Umit Ege Cankus of Turkey 6-4, 6-4.

It was the big upset of Day Two and it was another heart-breaking result for Stastny, who was the top seed in the Boys’ Singles where he was also ousted in the first round on Monday. Elsewhere yesterday, the two other seeded boys’ pairings advanced to the next phase, as did girls’ fourth seeds Anna Lajos of Hungary and Lia Mosimann of Switzerland. The top two girls’ pairings had byes in the first round.

Tournament action continues today from 9am with matches in the Boys’ Singles and Girls’ Singles second rounds. The doubles quarter-finals will also be held later in the day from 4pm. The 11th Bahrain ITF Tennis Juniors Championship 2019 is being held under the patronage of Deputy Prime Minister His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa. It has been organised in cooperation with the Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs, the Bahrain Tennis Federation and the International Tennis Federation (ITF); and is being supported by Bahrain National Gas Company, Bapco and Ebrahim K Kanoo.

The tournament is a part of the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors, and it continues the tradition of BTC’s hosting world-class tennis championships each year. In other Boys’ Doubles matches yesterday, third seeds Archie Graham and Alexander Knox Jones from Great Britain were 6-4, 6-1 winners against Alexander Pustovit of Russia and Pierre Antoine Tailleu of France.

The fourth-seeded Indian duo of Vansh Bhagtani and Rahul Jaideep also made it through, beating compatriot Gary Bahl and his American teammate Yousef Manna 6-1, 4-6, 10-7 in a super tie-break.