Shoaib, Mina earn ITF junior tennis crowns

ISLAMABAD: It was a cakewalk for Mohammad Shoaib in the boys’ final while Turkey’s Mina Toglukdemir had to work hard to beat China’s Ren Ke for the girls’ crown in the Tajammul & Dilawar Abbas Memorial ITF Pakistan Junior Tennis Championships at the PTF Complex on Saturday.

Shoaib beat Ahmed Kamil without conceding a single game. Ahmed looked tired after playing three matches on Friday that included the unfinished singles quarter-final from the previous day, the semi-final and the doubles pre-final.

“I wish I could have played a lengthy match. It was all too easy. I hope to get so­me tougher matches in the se­cond ITF tournament that has already begun,” Shoaib said.

Mina, who looked a bit rusty in the second set, rallied to beat Ren 7-6(3), 1-6, 6-4 in the girls’ singles final. Cheered on by a good number of Turkish players who are also accompanied by their parents, Mina was trailing 1-4 in the third set before she recovered courtesy of some aggressive tennis. She started the third set tamely, committing a couple of double faults and even missed a few slices.

Once she realized that the final was slipping out of her hands, Mina changed her tactics and started playing an attacking game. Otherwise playing mostly from the baseline, Mina started earning points with overhead smashes from the middle of the court. After clawing her way back to 4-4, the Turk held her serve and broke Ren’s to take the title.

The Chinese girl, who looked much younger in age, gave a good account of herself with a consistent baseline game. However, she was found wanting whenever she got a chance to kill the point — especially in the third set.

“I got a bit complacent in the second set as I was taking things lightly. But it all went well in the later stage of the third set as I won five consecutive games to win the title,” Mina said.

Shoaib and Ahmed later combined to win the boys’ doubles title, beating the Turkish pair of Duran Birtan and Ozlale Kerem 6-3, 4-6, 14-12 in the final.