Rafaella Saa reigns supreme at ISC tennis
MUSCAT: Rafaella Saa reigned supreme to capture the girls under-18 singles title at the ongoing ISC-Muscat Pharmacy Open Junior Tennis Tournament organised by the Indian Social Club.
In the final, the Ecuadorian teenager put in a good percentage of first serves and played powerpacked drives on both flanks to register a convincing 6-2, 6-3 victory over Omani player Aisha al Suleimani.
Rafaella, who could not complete her tournament commitment last year due to sickness, came back with a bang and won the girls under-18 singles title to establish herself among the top players in her age group. Rafaella and Aisha broke each others’ serves until 2-all before Rafaella held in the fifth game and broke again for a 4-2 lead.
Rafaella broke Aisha again at love to win the first set. Aisha shrugged off a 0-2 deficit in the second set and broke Rafaella in the third game and held for 2-all. Rafaella continued to thump her ground strokes and scored freely on both flanks to race to a 5-2 lead. Aisha saved three match points on her serve to stay in the match. There was no stopping Rafaella who served out the second set to capture the girls under-18 singles crown.
Second seed Sanskar Dubey was scheduled to take on No. 4 seed Muneer al Rawahi in the final of the boys under-14 singles. Sanskar earned his place in the final after overcoming third seed Vivek Kolluru 7-5, 6-1.
The first set was well-contested until 5-all when Sanskar broke Vivek in the eleventh game and served out the first set. Sanskar dictated terms in the second set and won it comfortably for a place in the final.
Fourth seed Muneer al Rawahi advanced to the summit clash after an epic semifinal encounter and triumphed to upset top seed Ayaan Malhotra with a 6-4, 6-4 verdict.