MUSCAT: Kira Malakhova entered the final of the girls under-12 singles at the ISC-Muscat Pharmacy Open Junior Tennis Tournament organized by the Indian Social Club Oman. In an engrossing and tense semi-final, the talented Russian held her nerves to script a brilliant 8-6 victory to upset top seed J. Kaavya. Kira displayed brilliant all-round control and energy on court. She broke Kaavya early and maintained her domination to take a commanding 7-3 lead in the best of 15-games match. Kaavya saved two match points and broke Kira in the twelfth game to stay in the match. The gritty Kaavya once again showed good temperament and saved another two match points to reduce the deficit to 6-7. Frustration showed on Kira who had to hold back her emotions and served out the match for a place in the final. In the final to be played tomorrow, Kira will play the winner of the second semi final between Aayra Malhotra and Reya Attri.
Fourth seed Marwan Al Khanjari entered the semi finals of the boys under-12 singles after posting a convincing 8-1 victory over Arya Deshpande in the quarter final.
In first round action of the boys under-18 singles, third seed Zakariya Al Suleimani advanced with a comfortable 8-0 win over Surya Mariappan while fourth seed Yash Tanna coasted to a convincing 7-1 victory over Avigyan Bhattacharya. Others advancing to the second round are Amaan Kazi who faced to problems in beating Varun Deepak 8-1, Ayaan Malhotra powered his way to a 8-0 victory over Harsh Shah. Omani player Eyad Al Khanjari put in a dogged show to scrape to a narrow 8-7 (7-3) victory over Sanskar Dubey while Hassan Haider was kept on his toes before overcoming Ethan Maclure 8-4. Muneer Al Rawahi defeated Gareth Maclure 8-4 to move to the second round.
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