Simona upsets top seed

TDT | Manama                                                      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Romania’s Simona Cucu scored the first major upset of the second Bahrain International Tennis Federation (ITF) Juniors Championship 2024 yesterday, taking down girls’ singles top seed Viktoria Egorova in the very first round.

Simona won their match 6-3, 6-3 at the Bahrain Tennis Federation (BTF) courts in Isa Town, stunning her highly ranked rival.

The tournament is a part of the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors Calendar 2024. Simona, who won the girls’ doubles title in this year’s first ITF event in the Kingdom held last week, is now set to face Veronika Koutova of the Czech Republic in the last 16.

Veronika booked her place with a 7-5, 6-0 win against Callista Uchil of India.

Also through to the girls’ singles second round yesterday were second seed Yelena Lebeau of France, third seed Alina Sogomonyan of Armenia, seventh seed Irina Khayndrava, eighth seed Samira Rashidova, Jolie Marie Kaiser of Germany, Alisa Grinkevich, Sara Dessouky of Egypt, and Ioana Stefania Boian, who won a double title in Bahrain’s previous tournament.

Yelena beat Spanish wild card Valentina Sanchez Bronzetti 6-0, 6-2; Alina was a 6-0, 6-0 victor against Marlin Abdalla of Egypt; Irina defeated Oliwia Kuszel of Poland 6-4, 6-3; and Samira won 6-1, 6-0 against VD Rashmi Omaya Wijewardana of Sri Lanka.

Jolie Marie beat fellow-lucky loser Miral Pharaon of Lebanon 6-3, 6-4; Alisa defeated Iana Teodora of Romania 6-0, 6-4; Sara overcame a tough challenge against Ketevan Shavishvili of Georgia 7-6 (3), 6-3; and Ioana won against British wild card Casey Mauro, who retired from the match.

Ioana was leading 1-0 in the third, after the pair split the first two, with Casey winning the first 7-6 (7) and then Ioana taking the second 6-1.

Meanwhile, in the boys’ singles, another upset on opening day yesterday was registered, with Utku Kerem Biberli of Turkey ousting second seed Denis Vishenchuk Vishenko 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-0.

Others to march through were third seed Ilya Mosolkin, fourth seed Nikoloz Gurgenidze, fifth seed Rafael Asadullin, Kirill Kalennik and Prokhor Smirnov.

Mosolkin advanced after beating Sacha Fontanges of France 6-3, 6-3; Gurgenidze won 6-4, 6-0 against Mustafa Ege Topbas of Turkey; Asadullin beat Benediktas Verkovskis of Lithuania 6-0, 6-2; Kalennik ousted eighth seed Mars Argun of Turkey 6-1, 1-6, 6-2; and Smirnov won 6-0, 6-3 against Ersel Kalfaoglu, also of Turkey, 6-0, 6-3.

Tournament action continues today at the BTF.

The competition is the second J30 ITF event being held in Bahrain over successive weeks.