Deedat, Hannah ease to Masters victory
AHMED Deedat Abdul Razak left no room for drama as he clinched his maiden National Masters title with a clinical 6-2, 6-0 win over an injured Syed Agil Syed Naguib in the final yesterday.
Deedat, who lost to Assri Merzuki in the decider last year, said he tried his best to focus on the job at hand knowing that Agil was carrying a back muscle strain into the match at the National Tennis Centre at Jalan Duta.
“I knew that Agil had a very tough match against Ashaari Zainal in the semi-finals yesterday and was also a little injured,” said Deedat.
“I tried my best to maintain my intensity during the match and focused on mixing up my shots to make him move around a little.
“It worked and I managed to break him down eventually.
“Obviously, I am very pleased after coming close against Assri (Merzuki) last year.”
Agil admitted that it was just not his day.
“My back was troubling me but to be honest Deedat was just the better player today, he was really in the zone,” said Agil.
Deedat received RM4,000 for the win while Agil took home RM2,000 for his efforts.
Deedat and Agil are also doubles partners and had reached the semi-finals at the Sarawak Futures Tournament earlier this year.
The women’s final saw Masters debutant Hannah Yip, 14, downing Thean Li-Jian 6-1, 6-3 in the final. The duo received RM3,000 and RM1,500 respectively.
The highly experienced pair of Jawairiah Noordin and S. Theviya did not compete in the tournament due to injuries. Fadhli Ishak