BB Int’l Futures tennis title goes to Wehnelt

ISLAMABAD: Third seed German Kai Wehnelt impressive forceful performance earned him the Benazir Bhutto (BB) International Futures Tennis men’s singles title at the Islamabad Tennis Complex Courts Saturday.

In front of capacity holiday crowd, Wehnelt surprised second seed Japanese Rio Noguchi 6-1, 7-5 to win the last of the Futures hosted by the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) this year.

The final turned out to be a one-sided affair to say the least as Wehnelt blazing start helped him take early ascendency that almost continued till the end. His powerful crosscourt and down the line shots helped him make early inroads into the final. Japan’s second seed who happened to be a slow starter could not match Wehnelt aggression conceding the first set rather tamely.

It was in the second set that Noguchi tried to put up the fight and was seen racing to 3-1 lead when the German hit back with some sizzling serves, backed and supported by powerful forehand shots. Wehnelt was seen not only negotiating the lead well but also making full use of his opponents couple of double faults and close misses. The extended second set was a struggle of controlling the proceedings with German getting more than lucky to see the game titling in his favour.

“It was a good final and credit goes to my strategy and power. I started playing aggressive tennis right from the word go. I adopted the same approach that was my forte during the semis of Begum Kalsoom Saifullah Tennis last week against the same player,” Wehnelt said after winning the title.

He said he was pleased to beat a higher ranked. “I did it twice in a row against the same opponent. Here I knew well what I had to do,” he said.

Noguchi again rued missed chances saying that had he succeeded in winning the second set, he would have emerged favourite to win the title. “I admit getting off to slow start. However, once I settled down in the second set and attained a position to win it. I missed couple of good opportunities to kill the set,” Noguchi said.

In boy’s under -18 single final that was played in connection with National Championship, M Shoaib beat Ahmed Kamil 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Salim Saifullah Khan, President PTF, Senator Taj Haider and former Minister Humayun Saifullah Khan distributed the prizes among the winners and runners-up.

Result:

Men’s singles (final): Kai Wehnhelt (Ger) [3] bt Rio Noguchi (Jpn) [2]: 6-1, 7-5; Boys singles u-18 (final): Shoaib Khan bt Ahmed Kamil 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.