Ali Thameem
Aaara Aasal Azim defeated Hong Kong player Hiu Lam Ella Wong in the singles final of the ATF 16U Junior Maldives Open this morning.
The national tennis champion won the game by 6-2, 6-3, securing her second singles title in the tour. Aara had won singles doubles in the previous event of the ATF 16U Junior Maldives Open held this December.
Today marks the final day of the ATF Junior Maldives Open tour. In the boys’ doubles final, Mohamed Kaisaan Izzath Ra Izzath Rasheed’s pair was defeated 6-1,6-0 by an Indonesian pair. Kaisaan was the only Maldivian appearing in the boys’ doubles finals. His teammate was also an Indonesian.
In the semifinal game of girls’ singles, Aara defeated Aishath Karin Saizan by 6-2, 6-1, while Ella Wong defeated Aruzhan Bayalina of Kazakhstan. Karin played Bayalina in yesterday’s 3rd place playoff but retired after 6-7, 0-1.
Karin and Bayalina, a pair in the girls’ doubles event, won the trophy after winning 6-1, 6-2 in yesterday’s final game against local pair Aishath Livia Khatheer and Nym Ahmed Saleem.
Karin’s pair started the doubles event by defeating Aara and Nayara, the Maldivian pair who won gold a week ago. They went on to defeat Mishal Mohamed and Hiu Lam Ella Wong’s pair in the doubles semis.
In the boys’ singles event, both the final and semifinals featured all foreign players. Maldivian players Kaisaan, Daoud Shaheeb and Looth Agleem played in the round of sixteen. Daoud was however the only Maldivian who qualified for the quarterfinals, from which he was knocked out.
