Ketevan claims upset win

TDT | Manama                                                      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Ketevan Shavishvili of Georgia upset sixth seed Luisa Fusil of Slovenia 7-6 (2), 6-2 yesterday to advance to the girls’ singles second round in the Bahrain International Tennis Federation (ITF) Juniors Championship 2024, currently being played at the Bahrain Tennis Federation (BTF) courts in Isa Town.

Ketevan moved on to face Samira Rashidova in the round of 16. Also going through in the girls’ singles yesterday were second seed Yelena Lebeau of France, fourth seed Milana Konovalova, fifth seed Leah Baroudi of Syria, eighth seed Gloria Pop of Romania, and Sara Dessouky of Egypt.

Yelena defeated Alisa Grinkevich 6-4, 6-0, while Milana was a 6-1, 6-3 winner against Taylor Burke of Australia.

Leah beat Ava Khalil of the US 6-4, 7-5 in their encounter, and Gloria was a 6-0, 6-1 victor against Jolie Marie Kaiser of Germany.

Sara won via walkover against Ilona Kasabova of Bulgaria.

Meanwhile, in yesterday’s boys’ singles matches, Khaled Ibrahim of Egypt upset fourth-seeded Georgian Nikoloz Gurgenidze 4-6, 6-0, 6-3 to make it through to the second round.

There, Ibrahim will take on Prokhor Smirnov.

Others to advance yesterday were fifth seed Dev Kanbargimath of Romania, eighth seed Zaid Shelbayah of Jordan, Vladimir Guyot-Sionnest, Klas Gorensek of Slovenia, and Ahmed Ibrahim of Egypt.

Kanbargimath beat Petter Christopher Berg Hagen of Norway 6-1, 6-2, while Shelbayah outplayed Jorge Batarse of Mexico 6-4, 6-2.

Guyot-Sionnest defeated Aravind Binoj Kizhuppillil 7-5, 6-2, while Gorensek followed suit, outclassing Sattam Moafa of Saudi Arabia 6-0, 6-1 Ahmed Ibrahim overcame a tough challenge from Parv Patel of India in a tough three-setter that went the maximum 7-6 (2), 1-6, 7-6 (7).

Doubles Meanwhile, action in the tournament’s girls’ and boys’ doubles categories got underway yesterday.

Ava teamed up with Casey Mauro of Great Britain to defeat Jolie Marie and Spaniard Valentina Sanchez Bronzetti 6-4, 6-0. Ava and Casey have now set up a meeting in the quarter-finals with top seeds Viktoria Egorova and Samira.

Also triumphant yesterday were Irina Khayndrava and Alina Sogomonyan of Armenia, the Romanian duo of Gloria Pop and Iana Teodora, Sara and Czech teammate Veronika Koutova, Leah and Alisa, Ketevan and Sri Lankan VD Rashmi Omaya Wijewardana, and the Romanian pair of Ioana Stefania Boian and Simona Cucu.

On the distaff, top seeds Kanbargimath and Denis Vishenchuk Vishenko beat Bahrain’s Faris al Toobli and Germany’s Nicolas Epping 6-1, 6-3 to lead eight pairings into the boys’ doubles quarter-finals.

Also making it through were the Bulgarian tandem of Dimitar Baychev and Dimitar Chilov, Turkish third seeds Uktu Kerem Biberli and Ramazan Kaan Oktay, Issah Ali of Great Britai and Hassan Ammar of Egypt, Hartmut Fiedler of Austria and Shelbaya, fourth-seeded Patel and Bercel Sandor Takacs of Hungary, Sacha Fontanges of France and Ahmed Ibrahim of Egypt, and second seeds Rafael Asadullin and Ilya Mosolkin.