Dubai: The top seeds in the boys’ and girls’ competitions eased effortlessly into the singles semi-finals, with Egypt’s Hana Mortagy the biggest winner at the 11th UAE Dubai ITF Junior Tennis Championships at the Aviation Club on Wednesday.
Top seed Sergis Kyratzis of Cyprus showed little mercy in a 6-1, 6-2 win over Qatar’s Jaber Mohammad Ali Mutawa in the boys’ section, while Vasilisa Aponasenko of Russia hardly broke sweat in a 6-1, 6-0 drubbing of Egypt’s Marina Albert in the girls’ draw.
The biggest upset was caused by Mortagy when she sent fourth seed Olga Sharypova packing in straight sets 6-1, 6-4.
The boys’ top seed Kyratzis now runs into Adam Glynn after the unseeded British player outplayed Shota Meparidze 6-3, 6-3.
In the lower half of the boys’ singles draw, Great Britain’s Christopher Reynolds will meet sixth-seeded Nikolay Batanov of Russia to decide the finalist.
Best back-hand returns
The 16-year-old Glynn, who also made the singles semi-finals in Bahrain last week, got the better of German Alexander Braun 6-4, 6-1, while Batanov, who possibly boasts of one of the best back-hand returns in this tournament, accounted for Christos Hadjigeorgiou of Cyprus 6-3, 6-2.
Glynn, the winner of the under-16 Tennis Europe Championships held in Porto at the end of September, was thrilled with the run he has had this season. “The idea is to just go out there and win as many matches as possible and that will automatically turn into points and titles,” Glynn told Gulf News.
“Every match is going to be tough at such a tournament. I just want to fight and give 100 per cent — winning this tournament would be a just reward.”
The girls’ singles witnessed a minor upset, with fifth seed Mara Argyriou of Cyprus packing off third seed Teertha Iska from India 6-1, 6-0. Russia’s Aponasenko, the top seed here, did not have any such trouble as she eased through 6-1, 6-0 against No.7 Marina Albert to set up a semi-final face-off with Mortagy.
The fourth and final spot in the semi-final stage was taken by Raluca Georgiana Serban thanks to a fighting three-set 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Daria Chernyshikova.
