Purser, Knox Jones, Graham and Endler keep title-double hopes alive

The British trio of Issey Purser, Alexander Knox Jones and Archie Graham, along with Mark Owen Endler from Germany, all stayed with a chance yesterday to claim a fantastic title-double in the 11th Bahrain ITF Tennis Juniors Championship 2019, currently being played at Bahrain Tennis Club (BTC) in Juffair. All four players advanced to their respective doubles finals while also booking a place in their singles semi-finals.

Purser and Indian partner Rhea Singh barged into the Girls’ Doubles title match where they will meet the British pair of Aryana Bartlett and Olivia Rook. Purser also made it to the Girls’ Singles final four, where three of the top four seeds were eliminated yesterday. Joining her in the semis were fellow-qualifiers Jermine Sherif and Mariam Atia from Egypt, and second seed Stefania Bojica of Romania. Meanwhile, Knox Jones and Graham punched their tickets to the Boys’ Doubles final where they will face Endler and French teammate Pablo Trochu.

They also excelled in the Boys’ Singles, where Endler, Knox Jones and Graham were joined by Briton Daniel Abernethy in a highly competitive semi-final line-up. The doubles finals and the singles semi-finals will all be held today, which is the tournament’s penultimate day. The singles semi-final matches kick things off from 9am, followed by the doubles finals later in the afternoon from 3pm. 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 yesterday’s action in the Girls’ Doubles, Purser and Singh were 6-4, 6-2 winners against the Indian pair of Saniya Manoj Masand and Hrudaya Shah.

They now face off with Bartlett and Rook, who defeated the fourth-seeded pair of Anna Lajos of Hungary and Lia Mosimann of Switzerland 6-3, 6-2. In the Girls’ Singles, Purser beat fourth seed Hagar Ramadan of Egypt 6-0, 6-3, but the upset of the day was claimed by Sherif, who took down last year’s champion and top seed Nina Danisova from Slovakia 6-3, 6-2. Atia beat third seed Rosaleen Alioussef from Russia 6-2, 6-3 to book her semis berth, while second seed Bojica was a 6-2, 6-2 victor over Rook. In the semis, Purser battles Sherif while Atia takes on Bojica.

In the Boys’ Doubles, Endler and Trochu lived up to their billing as top seeds as they beat fourth-seeded Indians Vansh Bhagtani and Rahul Jaideep 3-6, 6-2, 10-8 in a super tie-break. They now battle for the title with Knox Jones and Graham, who defeated their compatriots Abernethy and Matteo Fuschillo 6-0, 6-4. In the Boys’ Singles, fourth-seeded Endler beat seventh seed Luca-Daniel Constantin of Romania 6-4, 6-3 to keep his hopes of a title-double alive. He will next play against eighth-seeded Graham, who stunned second seed Garv Bahl of India 6-0, 6-4.

Knox Jones and Abernethy set up an all-British semi-final clash. Knox Jones needed to go the distance against Denmark’s Felipe Mikkelsen before claiming a hard-earned 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (5) victory, while Abernethy beat countryman Oliver Richards in straight sets 6-0, 7-6 (6).