Carlos Kelaidis of Switzerland and Eleftherios Neos from Cyprus defeated top-seeded Ammar Al Hogbani from the US and Egyptian Mohammed Abdelaziz 6-4, 2-6, 6-10 to win the doubles title in the seventh Bahrain ITF Juniors Championship at Bahrain Tennis Club in juffair yesterday.
Seventeen-year-old Carlos expressed his delight over winning the title and his hopes to raise his world ranking which currently stands at 619.
“I think we played really well and deserved the win. I’d say I had a good tournament overall. All I’m really looking forward to right now is getting a higher world ranking and hopefully being able to get a tennis scholarship somewhere,” said the doubles winner.
Eleftherios, 16, also expressed pride in the acheivement. “I feel very proud to have won the doubles title. It’s a wonderful feeling,” he said.
When asked about his opinion on today’s singles final between Yousef Khamis of Egypt and UAE’s Fahad Al Janahi, Eleftherios said, “We both were eliminated in the singles by Yousef Khamis and now that he’s reached the final, I really think he could win it easily.”
Meanwhile, top-seeded Emelie Luisa Schwarte of Germany was crowned the girls’ singles champion.
Emelie overcame eighth seed Themis Haliou of Cyprus 6-0, 6-3.
Sixteen-year-old Emelie claimed her first ITF title after going down to Egypt’s Farah Abdelwahab in the final in Jordan last August.
“I really hope I can continue my career and go professional; right now I’m not even thinking about college,” said Emelie who looks up to Roger Federrer as her tennis idol.
Themis Haliou voiced her disappointment over the result.
“I played really well, I was very anxious during the first set because I was facing a strong opponent. I couldn’t find the rhythm to compete but as I got better in the second set she also improved, so it was very tough,” said the runner-up.
Emelie had 100 per cent success in the tournament when she claimed the doubles title too alongside teammate Camile Verden Anderson of Great Britian.
They defeated British duo Donia Abdelaziz and Lily Reynolds 6-0, 6-4.
16-year-old Camile ended the month successfully after having claimed the singles title in Kuwait earlier this month.
Both Donia and Lily expressed their discontent with how the game went for them and their problem with the deuce points.
“Our errors came in the first set when we messed up a lot of deuce points and that’s why we couldn’t catch up,” Donia said.
Lily added that she had suffered an injury in Kuwait but was determined to compete.
“Last week I suffered a back injury in Kuwait and it still affects my performance, but I was determined to fight for the title. To reach the final with this injury is an acheivement,” she said.
The boys’ singles title will be played today between Egypt’s Yousef Khamis and UAE’s Fahad Al Janahi.