Bulgaria’s Penev claims ITF junior title

ISLAMABAD: Ivan Penev of Bulgaria rallied from a set down to beat local favourite Huzaifa Abdul Rehman 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 and win the boys’ singles title in the ITF Pakistan Junior Tennis Championships on Saturday.

In the final played at the PTF Complex here, the Bulgarian player overcame Huzaifa purely on stamina.

After conceding the first set rather meekly, Penev came back strongly to put his Pakistani opponent under pressure with an attacking game. He had little trouble in winning the next two sets and the title.

“I knew I had a chance as I am used to playing long matches. The moment I saw Huzaifa struggling with his stamina, I started playing an attacking game and it worked well,” Penev said after the match.

The Bulgarian hoped to continue in the same rhythm in the coming ITF junior tournaments.

Sara Yigin of Germany and Mina Toglukdemir of Turkey claimed the girls’ doubles crown when they defeated the Iranian pair of Melina Mehrani and Meshkatolzahra Safi 6-2, 6-7(3), 10-8 in an keenly contested final.