Adham Hesham Gabr completes junior masters treble

Dubai: Egyptian teen tennis ace Adham Hesham Gabr became the first player to win the Clark Francis Tennis Swiss Junior Masters Finals three times in a row at Dubai Tennis Stadium on Friday.

Gabr, aged 14, a Dubai resident and student at Oud Mehta’s French School, had previously won the Under-10 and Under-12 divisions before wrapping up the Under-14s this year. As reward for his latest title, he will now get to watch his heroes in the quarter-finals of the upcoming French Open in Paris.

“I’m really very proud to win this tournament for the third time,” said Gabr, who is coached by former Tunisian Davis Cup professional Essam Jillaly. “I will use my trip to learn more by watching the top players in the world.

“I would like to thank my parents, Emirates Tennis Academy, my coach and also my older sister Nouna. She is also an excellent tennis player and one day I hope we can become mixed doubles partners at a Grand Slam.”

Other winners bound for Roland Garros, courtesy of Adidas and Swiss Airlines, include girls’ Under-10s, Under-12s, Under-14s and Under-18s winners Deepshika Siriram, Angel McLeod, Lara Smidt and Karishman Bahawani, respectively. In the boys’ categories, Anurag Reddy (U10s), Miguel Nau (U12s) and Ashkan Shekariz (U18s) were victorious.

More than 900 players have been competing across ten categories of this eight-month series, but the Under-8s and Under-9s were exempt from Friday’s finals, which featured a knockout among the top 16 in each division.