Blair, Dalia lead junior qualifiers into main draws

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

American youngsters James Blair and Dalia Mahmoud led eight hopefuls into their respective singles main draws for the International Tennis Federation (ITF) juniors tournament, being held in Bahrain.

Blair was the top seed in the boys’ qualifying draw and he secured his place amongst the 32 participants in the competition.

Dalia, meanwhile, led three others into the girls’ singles main draw.

The tournament is part of the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors Calendar.

It is a J5 level event, which is scheduled to continue until Sunday next week.

Play in both boys’ and girls’ singles competitions is scheduled to get underway today at the Bahrain Tennis Federation (BTF) courts in Isa Town.

Qualifying alongside Blair were Yahan Zhang from China, Shay Sarfati from France, Idhant Kastwar from India.

Blair earned his place after defeating Christijan Van der Lee from the Netherlands 6-4, 6-2 in the qualification competition’s final round.

Yahan followed suit with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Yali Rodrigues Shrim from Brazil.

Sarfti was a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Amjad Bukary from Saudi Arabia, while Kastwar beat Yassin Kashwaa of Egypt 6-3, 6-3 to earn his place.

In the main draw, the boys’ singles top seed is Vineeth Mutyala of India, while compatriot Rayan Sajjad Koothrat is seed number two.

There are no Bahrainis in the main draw. On the distaff, Dalia was the top qualifier for the girls’ singles main draw.

She was joined by Adrianna Kozakiewicz from Poland, Salma Faragallah from Bahrain and Rokaya Kashkoush from Egypt.

Dalia secured her qualification with. 1-6, 6-1, 12-10 win over Lina Vor of Germany.

Adrianna enjoyed a 6-1, 6-1 triumph against Nicole Wigoda from Israel, while Salma won 6-1, 6-0 against Madison Haywood from the US. Rokaya had a bye and was not in action yesterday but still earned her main draw place.

The top seed amongst the girls is Tamara Ermakova, while Yara Alhogbani from Saudi Arabia is the second seed.

Heading into today’s action, BTF secretary general Fuad Al Rowaie welcomed all the participating players and wished them a pleasant stay in Bahrain.

Al Rowaie confirmed the BTF’s readiness in hosting the competition, and stressed that it has arranged all matters related to the event.

This week’s tournament will be followed by another J5 level event from 31 October to 5 November, and then a J4 event will take place from 7 to 13 November, both at the same venue.

He noted that Bahrain has just completed hosting matches in Asia/Oceania Group IV of the Davis Cup 2022.