Ali Thameem
The second week of the ITF Maldives Junior Open has reached its penultimate day, as two Maldivian tennis stars, Aaraa Aasal Azim and Naba Nishan, have made it to the quarterfinals of the girls’ singles event.
Naba is playing the quarterfinals against British player Charlotte Perks. Naba started the event by defeating Indian player Jahnavi Tammineedi by 6-3, 6-0 in the round of 32. She went on to defeat Anna Stepanyants in Wednesday’s round of sixteen. The Russian player gave Naba a strong fight as the game was dragged into a third set. Naba ended up with the upper hand as the final score stood 6-3, 1-6, 6-1.
Aaara’s first opponent was the French player Eva-Vlada, whom she defeated 6-3, 6-4. Aara then faced Mengxi Sun from China on Wednesday. She made it to the quarterfinals with two straight wins; 6-3, 6-3.
Aara is playing the singles top seed, Tamara Ermakova of Kazakhstan, in today’s quarterfinals. Tamara had exited early in the first week of the ITF Maldives Open, having been defeated by local player Manha Mohamed.
Manha made it to the round of sixteen but no further in both the first and second weeks. She was eliminated by Tarita Hongsyok in yesterday’s RO16 game. Just as Manha, Nayara Usama Ali was also eliminated by a Thai player, Phitchayapak Srimuk, in the round of sixteen.
