Christ and Vekic clinch ITF titles.

Byline: PATRICK SALOMON 

CONSTANTIN Christ of Germany and Donna Vekic of Croatia won their maiden International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournament titles yesterday as the first Zain Bahrain ITF Junior Championship came to a close at Bahrain Tennis Club (BTC).

Christ clinched the boys singles crown after defeating top-seeded compatriot and heavy favourite Nils Brinkmann 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in a tough three-set match that ran nearly two hours.

Vekic, meanwhile, emerged victorious in the girls singles division, after unexpectedly outplaying the tournament's other number one, Yasmin Ebada of Egypt, 6-1, 6-2.

Sixteen-year-old Christ was facing Brinkmann for the fourth time in their careers in yesterday's tightly contested final. With his win, he has now taken three of those meetings. Vekic, on the other hand, was playing Ebada for the first time. At 13 years old, Bahrain was only her third ITF tournament, and she already has a winner's trophy to show for her efforts.

"It was tough playing against such a good player and in the heat here, but I think I did well and I'm very happy to have won my first title in my life," Christ told the GDN.

Vekic commented: "This is the perfect ending to a perfect week for me here in Bahrain. I loved playing here; very nice people everywhere and exceptional hospitality...it's just been perfect."

Both winners were awarded their respective trophies by Deputy Prime Minister Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa and General Organisation for Youth and Sports (Goys) president Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa.

The boys' final was a tightly contested see-saw affair that saw both German youngsters battle each other point for point with long baseline rallies. After Christ narrowly took the first set, Brinkmann, who is playing in his first tournament as the top seed, fought back hard and took an early lead in the second before quickly closing it out.

Secured

Christ, however, would not let the opportunity slip away, and he eventually secured the victory after another close finish.

"The first set was good for me, but Nils made the second so tough," Christ said. "The temperature was also worse than what we play with in the morning, so that was another factor I had to deal with. But I fought the best I could, and I think I played quite well."

The girls' final was surprisingly one-sided. Ebada, who had cruised all week but was bothered yesterday by some off-the-court issues, tried hard to break her opponent, but Vekic would not budge. She made the most of her superior service game and powerful forehand shots, and in the end, after she held serve to take a 3-2 advantage in the second set, the match was all but over.

"I played well today; I actually expected a tougher match, but I like it this way," Vekic told the GDN of winning by a comfortable margin.

"I hit a lot of winners with my forehand, and my serve was quite good. I knew I had control of the match after the first set, but I also knew that I had to continue playing hard through the rest of the match. I also saw she was getting quite distracted, so I took advantage of that and here I am - the winner."

Christ is next set to play in Dubai in another ITF Junior Circuit event which begins tomorrow. Vekic heads back home with her father Igor and will be preparing for her next ITF competition in Moscow next month.

The Zain Bahrain ITF Junior Championship was the first of its kind ever held in the kingdom. It was organised by BTC in cooperation with Goys, title sponsors Zain Bahrain, and the Bahrain Tennis Federation.

Copyright 2009 Gulf Daily News

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