Bahrainis lose opener in Billie Jean King Cup tennis

TDT | Manama                                          

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s women’s national tennis team lost their opening match-up yesterday in the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group III, being hosted by the Bahrain Tennis Federation (BTF) at their hard courts in Isa Town.

The Bahrainis lost 0-3 to Maldives in Group D of the competition’s preliminary round. Bahrain’s Hajar Zaidan opened the contest with a 1-6, 2-6 defeat to Layan Shamin in the first of two singles clashes. Salma Faragallah then lost the second 1-6, 0-6 to the Maldives’ Aaraa Aasaal Azim.

The result was completed in the doubles clash, where Bahrainis Hajar and Salma bowed to Layan and Aaraa 1-6, 0-6. Bahrain are scheduled to return to action today. They have a four-player squad in the tournament, where Hajar and Salma are joined by Mariam Ali and Haneen Al Najjar. Also yesterday, in Group A, Saudi Arabia beat Iraq 3-0; in Group B, Kyrgyzstan beat Bhutan 3-0; in Group C, Qatar beat Brunei 3-0 and Nepal beat Tajikistan 3-0; and in the day’s second match-up in Group D, Laos beat Macau 3-0.

Following a single round-robin, the top team from each group will advance to the next stage. There, they will play for two qualifying cards for Group II in next year’s competition, while the remaining sides will compete for their best final classification. The Billie Jean King Cup is a leading global tournament between national teams in women’s tennis. The competition in the Kingdom is a zonal event, with teams playing for promotion to the higher-tier group.