UAE girl Amira breezes past Al Saady to enter second round

Abu Dhabi: Amira Kamber became the first UAE girl to win points on the International Tennis Federation's junior circuit.

Young Amira won her first round match in the Zayed International Juniors Cup, an ITF Junior Circuit championship being played at the Abu Dhabi tennis Centre in Zayed Sports City.

Amira, a wild card entrant, defeated Syria's Nada Mehr Al Saady 6-1, 6-0. The UAE lass now runs into a strong opponent, Uzbekistan's Sabina Kovtunova, the seventh seed who earned a bye.

The only seeded player to lose among the girls was sixth seed Valentina Starkova (Kazakhstan), who lost 1-6, 0-6 to Maria Meluk (Belarus).

Among the boys, top seed Martin Studeny of Czech Republic and second seed Hamad Esmail of the UAE won their matches in contrasting styles.

Narrow win

Studeny beat Yuri Scychko of Belarus 6-2, 6-0, while Tibor Benes of Czech Republic stretched UAE's Esmail to three sets. Esmail won 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.

Matches are played at six courts simultaneously at the Abu Dhabi Tennis Centre courts and today's action starts at 11.00 am.

Monday's results:

Girls' singles: Olga Makhova (Russia) bt Hannah Patten (Great Britain) 6-0, 6-0; Tanvi Shah (India) bt Christin Toubia (Norway) 6-0, 6-0; Amira Kamber (UAE) bt Nada Mehr Al Saady (Syria) 6-1, 6-0; Maria Meluk (Belarus) bt Valentina Starkova (Kazakhstan) 6-1, 6-0; Nikol Malatova (Czech) bt Manar Al Jazzaf (Kuwait) 6-2, 6-2; Jennifer Smith (GBR) bt Shakhnoza Karieva (UZB) 6-2, 6-2; Irina Dementieva (Rus) bt Archana Veeramachane (IND) 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4; Glulia Bruzzone (Italy) bt Susita Susita (IND) 6-1, 6-1

Boys' singles: Martin Studeny (CZE) bt Yuri Shychko (BLR) 6-2, 6-1; Stanislav Lyamaev (Rus) bt Ramy Labna (EGY) 6-3, 6-3; Daniil Teslikov (Rus) bt Ryan Addison (RSA) 7-5, 6-2; Faisal Bastaki (UAE) bt Karim Awad (USA) 6-0, 6-1; Khalid Al Hassani (UAE) bt Adam De Romas (AUS) 6-1, 6-0; Lawrence Harradine (SUI) bt Saeed Al Hassani (UAE) 6-0, 6-0; Alfredo Desiati (ITA) bt Seyed Aloi Moez (IRI) 6-1, 6-1; Ryan Cheung (HKG) bt Erkin Aliyev (AZE) 6-3, 6-2; Mohammad Al Issawi (Jor) bt Hamid-Reza Al Yasin (IRI) 6-1, 7-5; Nasir Mustaq Ahmad (Pak) bt Innocent Obita (UGA) 6-4, 6-0; Richard Waite (GER) bt Khalid Abou Ouf (EGY) 6-3, 6-2; Hassan Sherif Al Marzouki (UAE) bt Salem Al Ali (UAE) 6-4, 6-2; Cosmin-Christian Andrescu (ROM) bt Alexander Rottiers (BEL) 6-4, 6-3; Visheh Bhatia (IND) bt Stefan Toubia (NOR) 6-0, 6-2; Aleksa Ilic (SCG) bt James Harvey (GBR) 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (6), Hamad Esmail (UAE) bt Tibor Benes (CZE) 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.

AHMED KUTTY/Gulf News

Moves ahead

Jennifer Smith defeated Shakhnoza Karieva in the first round of the ITF Junior Tennis championship yesterday.