Egyptian boys break new ground in World Junior Tennis Finals
Egypt's boys’ team have made a successful start to the ITF World Junior Tennis Finals, winning both of their opening round-robin ties to secure a place in the quarter-finals for the first time in their history.
The duo of Mohamed Ibrahim and Karim Mabrouk backed up their 2-1 victory over No. 4 seeds Canada on day one with a 2-1 triumph over Thailand on Tuesday to advance to the last eight with a tie in hand.
Their achievement is all the more remarkable given that due to visa complications they only found out they could travel to Prostejov, where the 14 & under international team competition is taking place, two days before the competition started.
“It’s a surprise for us to be here so I’m very, very to happy to reach the quarter-finals for the first time; I hope we can finish in a good place in this tournament,” said Ibrahim, who was introduced to tennis by his father at the age of four.
Ibrahim and Mabrouk are joined in the team by Omar Kandil and are captained by Mohamed Moussa.
“We were very sad because it was difficult for us to come here and we didn’t think we had the chance. Then they called us and they said it was open for us to go and compete. The boys were crying and then they were extremely happy. The day before was very tough as the journey was 24 hours but we won the first two matches which is a great result for us,” explained Moussa.
“Everyone at home is extremely happy. All the media are talking about what we have done here, it’s the first time Egypt has got to the quarter-finals. The President of the Federation talked to me personally and thanked me for this result but asked us for more. [This result] will inspire people in Egypt to want to be like these players and get results like them, to put more hours into practise and to be strong players.”
The Egyptian girls’ team of Gana Omar, Lojain Issa and Sama Hindawy are also contesting the 2021 ITF World Junior Tennis Finals but a couple of tough opening matches against top seeds Russia and No. 8 seeds Japan currently see them in fourth place in Group 1.
Elsewhere on day two there were wins for Italy, Czech Republic and Switzerland, the top three seeds in the boys’ event, while girls’ No. 1 seeds Russia posted another convincing victory, defeating Belarus 3-0 for the loss of just seven games.
Another girls’ team to record victory were Canada, who saw off Switzerland 3-0 after singles victories for Emma Dong and Nadia Lagaev and a doubles triumph for Dong and Lola Bean.
“I thought the girls came out strong and had their mind set to win these matches as best they could. We had a tough second round match for our No. 1 player [Lagaev] but she was able to pull it off nicely in the second set. They played really well, the girls all supported each other and they were positive the whole time. They had one mission and they completed it,” said Canadian girls’ captain Denise Fernandez.
Canada will play No. 2 seeds Bulgaria, who have also won both of their round-robin matches, in the final group tie of the competition on Wednesday.