Egyptian and English tennis champs in semi final
Mounir Mohamed of Egypt plays a forehand to Alexander Wilton of Britain during the ITF junior circuit at Parklands Sports Club in Nairobi. Wilton won the 7-5,3-6,7-5. Photo/CHRIS OMOLLO
England’s Alexander Wilton on Thursday recovered from a set down to dismiss Mohamed Mounir from Egypt 7-5, 3-6 and 7-5 in a thrilling semi-final of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Junior ranking tennis tournament at Parklands Sports Club.
The 16-year-old Englishman’s brush with the Pharaohs is far from over as he now meets another Egyptian Karim Hossam on Friday from 9am. Hosam defeated Marc Wakim 4-6, 6-4 and 6-3 in an all Egyptian semi-final. Kenya’s best showing was by Nikita Dawda who was eliminated in the quarter final by Marina Alber of Egypt.
Astonishing shots
Each player offered a variety of astonishing shots, one seemingly more impossible than the next. At one point, Wilton sent the ball flying past Mounir so fast that the Egyptian didn’t have time to lift his racket.
“The balls were flying through the air a bit more,” said Mounir. “I just had to try and stay calm. I thought I was playing well enough to win the match, but I knew Wilton was going to come at me,” he added.
On his part, Wilton said: “There were a few sort of ups and downs, but I managed to come through in the end. I relaxed in the second set as my serve went awry, but I managed to compose myself in the third,” said Wilton.
During the match, Mounir was outplaying the unseeded England player, with two breaks of serve in the opening set, as Wilton was uncharacteristically blunt with his shots. It was the Egyptian who came up with big shots when needed.
Despite three double faults in his first serve game, Witon still managed to score 1-0. He played offensive as his serves and returns begun to pick.
After Mounir hit an ace to close out the ninth game and go up 5-4, still on serve, Wilton took the ball and was up 40-30. But after a fantastic rally featuring hard-hitting ground strokes from both players, who both showed great movement around the court, the game finally moved to deuce.
A similar rally followed on the next point, which Wilton won to gain the advantage with a winner after Mounir tracked down a shot to the left corner.
After 29 minutes Mounir had to put up with his defeat in the first set. Mounir opened the second set with an ace as he stayed focused and on the game with made excellent returns.
