Dubai: The two top seeds sailed into the next rounds of the fifth Dubai ITF Junior Tennis Championships at the Dubai Country Club last night.
Zuzana Linhova from the Czech Republic soared to an easy 6-2, 6-3 win against Adnya Naik of India, before Vaja Uzakov powered past another Indian challenger Yuki Bhambri to enter the second round in the boys competition.
Linhova, who had a tough outing against Uzbekistan's Sabina Kovtunova on Monday, had it going easy into the quarterfinals, following her win against Naik. "Things were much better for me today compared to what I had to go through yesterday," admitted the top seeded Linhova.
"My serve and my back hand worked well today and that made things easier for me against her," she added. Linhova took the first set 6-2 only to find her Indian opponent matching her all the way in the second. "But I think I had the experience to see her through in the end," Linhova added. The Mumbai-born Naik rued her lack of footwork during the match. "Her footwork was better and that was the determining factor today," Naik said.
The Indian was also upset due to the presence of Linhova's coach and mother on court, giving the top seed constant advice during play. "That was wrong, but there was no one to put a stop to it," Naik said.
Uzakov, the top seed in the boys competition, was not stretched too far either, though he took his time to get an appraisal of his Indian opponent.
"Once I knew his style, I went for my shots and won rather easily in the end," the Uzbek said.
Prior to coming to Dubai, Uzakov won two Grade IV competitions in Uzbekistan and another Grade V competition in Kazakhstan. "Taking into consideration my form at the moment, I can't see why I can't go all the way in this tournament," Uzakov said.
His 14-year opponent from India comes from a tennis family. His elder sisters Ankhita and Sanaa Bhambri have been a regular feature at international competitions. "I was inconsistent in my game. I have time to learn," Bhambri said.
One match which generated a lot of interest was the one featuring Nanuli Pipiya of Russia and Valentina Starkova from Kazakhstan. And after more than three hours on court, Pipiya emerged a winner at 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (2). "That was tough," Pipiya said.
"The key to the game lay in me changing my tactics after the second set. I was more active and that helped in the end."
Results
Girls' singles: Malou Ejdesgaard beat Ekaterina Strogonova 6-3, 3-6, 6-2; Kata Szekely beat Tanvi Shah 6-2, 6-1; Zuzana Linhova bt Adnya Naik 6-2, 6-3; Nanuli Pipiya 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (2); Stephanie Cornish bt Shakhnoza Karieva 6-1, 6-1.
Boys' singles: Vaja Uzakov beat Yuki Bhambri 7-5, 6-3; Jesse Kiuru beat Abdullah Qasim 6-4, 6-0; Matthew Asciak beat Thomas Deighton 6-1, 6-2; Nikita Zotov beat Chandril Sood 6-0, 6-1; Andrei Savulescu by Renouk Manuja 7-6 (3), 6-4.
