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Alesia through to girls’ singles semis

TDT | Manama                                         

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com   

Alesia Breaz from Romania marched through to the semi-finals of the girls’ singles category yesterday in the Bahrain International Tennis Federation (ITF) J30 event, currently being played at the Bahrain Tennis Federation (BTF) courts in Isa Town.

Alesia booked her place after upsetting top seed May Fadida of Israel 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-1. Alesia will next take on third seed Emma Cohen of Great Britain in the final four. Emma also advanced yesterday following a 6-4, 6-2 win against Stefaniia Bondarenko in their quarter-final clash.

The other semi-final will be played between second seed Emma Fantusis of Bulgaria and sixth seed Ada Kumru of Turkey. Emma won against seventh seed Liliya Piskun 2-6, 6-0, 6-4 while Ada was a 6-2, 7-6 (0) winner against Aleksandra Rozkalne of Latvia.

Meanwhile, the boys’ singles semi-finalists were also determined yesterday. Jakub Smejcky from the Czech Republic and Bilal Asim of Pakistan, the two remaining seeded players, both made it through. Third-seeded Smejcky defeated Noam Yishayahu of Israel 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, while sixth seed Asim ended the dream run of wild card Wash Bahalkar of Great Britain 6-2, 6-1.

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Smejcky will next take on Italian qualifier Giovanni Ciocca, who beat Rares Andrei Golescu of Romania 6-2, 6-4; while Asim will face off with Yannick Theodor Alexandrescou of Romania, who defeated Alex Bergomi of Switzerland 6-1, 6-0.

In the doubles divisions, second seeds Emma Fantusis and Ada secured their berth in the girls’ final after beating the pair of Ariel Avidan and Roni Baranes from Israel 6-0, 6-3. For the title, they will face either the top-seeded duo of Emma Cohen and Fadida or fourth seeds Liliya and Alina Sogomonyan.

Amongst the boys, Daniil Bogatov and Marat Salbiev barged through to their final match after winning against Ciocca and Portuguese partner Miguel Espanca Ramos Maia 2-6, 6-4, 10-4. Their opponents in the final will be either second seeds Alexandrescou and Smejcky or Eldad Atzmon and Snir Morag of Israel.

Following this week’s ongoing Bahrain ITF J30 event, another will be held from 27 February to 4 March at the BTF. That tournament will also feature 32-player singles draws for boys and girls, and 16-pairing doubles draws. The two Bahrain tournaments are part of the 2023 ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors Calendar.