Alessio Basile wins ITF World J5 Junior Tennis

ISLAMABAD: Alessio Basile (Belgian) staged a strong recovery after trailing 1-5 on the first set tie break to win the Syed Dilawar Abbas/Syed Tajamul Abbas Memorial ITF World J5 Junior Tennis Championships at the PTF Complex here on Saturday.

Alessio Basile defeated Turkey’s Birtan Duran 7-6(7), 6-2.

Duran was well on course to take one set lead when he was serving at 5-1 in the tie break after 6-6. The Turkish had all the chances of making early impression when he started playing erratic tennis following a couple of close line calls. Getting frustrated on the line boy, Duran started playing reckless shots in anger which led to his downfall.

Duran’s forehand sizzlers were too hard to handle for Basile whose strong point was his consistent game. Instead of being attacking, he happened to be a good retriever that helped him earn the first set.

Once Duran lost the first set, he was no way near his best and kept on losing points and ultimately the grip on the final. The Turkish just managed to hold his serve twice against Basile who ran away with the second set 6-2.

“I was feeling a bit cramped near the end of the first set but I recovered well to start playing my normal game. At the end it was easy for me, especially in the second set which I dominated,” Basile said.

He hoped that the title would earn him more points in the junior ranking.

In ladies singles final, Austria’s Ines Faltinger proved too good for Russia’s Maria Pukhina beating her in straight set 6-1, 6-2 to win the title. The first ITF International junior title winner could not display the same quality game against Faltinger who displayed an array of quality attacking shots to earn points regularly.

Mohsin Mushtaq, Secretary Ministry of IPC, graced the occasion as the chief guest and Salim Saifullah Khan, President Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF), as the guest of honour.

The boys singles final match was also witnessed by Iftikhar Ali Shallwani, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Interior, and Madam Zlatomira Yurdakul, wife of the Turkish Ambassador.

Salim Saifullah Khan, while addressing the participants, appreciated the standard of tennis which was witnessed during the two tournaments. He also congratulated the winners and invited them to Pakistan again for the next ITF Juniors tournaments.

PTF President presented a souvenir to Japanese coach Hiroyuki Kojima for his service to the game of tennis and for bringing his players to Pakistan for ITF Pro Circuit Men’s and Juniors Tour Events since 2018.

Mohsin Mushtaq appreciated PTF’s efforts for attracting a large number of players and their parents to Pakistan. He was also highly impressed with PTF’s infrastructure and the organisational and administrative capacity of PTF staff.