Dubai: The top two seeds in the boys and the top seed in the girls eased their way into the singles quarter-finals at the Second Fujairah Junior Cup being played at the Fujairah Tennis and Country Club (FTCC), on Wednesday.
Dalibor Svrcina from the Czech Republic advanced to the last eight stage when his opponent Viktor Jovic from Serbia retired with a strained muscle, while second seed Baran Cengiz of Turkey got the better of Qatar’s Shanan Al Harrasi 6-1, 6-1 to make the next stage.
Svrcina will now meet seventh seed Mert Alkaya of Turkey, while Cengiz will face Muzammil Murtaza of Pakistan in the quarter-finals that were scheduled to be held late on Thursday. Alkaya was the only remaining seed left in the draw following his 6-0, 6-1 win against the UAE’s wild card Fares Al Janahi in the second round.
In the girls singles, top seed Calara Tauson of Great Britain defeated Ukrainian qualifier Dasha Lopatetskaya 6-4, 6-1 and set up a meeting with fifth seed Carmen Roxana Manu. After the early exit of second seed Mariam Dalakishvili, it was Zoziya Kardava, the third seed making it through to the next round with a 6-4, 6-2 win against British qualifier Amelia Bissett.
Manu, sixth seed Melis Yasar of Sweden and seventh seed Ekaterina Vinnik are the other three of the top-eight seeds remaining in the main draw as action continues over the weekend. The finals will be held on Saturday at the FTCC courts.
QUARTER-FINALS
(Boy’s) Dalibor Svrcina v Mert Alkaya; Alvaro Bueno Gil v Zura Tkemaladze; Filip Tensing v Anton Hidalgo Muniz; Muzammil Murtaza v Baran Cengiz.
(Girls) Clara Tauson v Sofia Milatova; Ebru Zeynep Yazgan v Sofia Milatova; Melis Yasar v Zoziya Kardava; Zeynep Sonmez v Ekaterina Vinnik.
