By Abdellatif Sharaa

KUWAIT: The 2nd Arab Masters Tennis Tournament’s Singles Groups stage was concluded on Saturday, as first and second (of each group) cruised to the quarter-finals, while the 8th round will take place on Sunday. The tournament will come to a close on Tuesday with the Singles final. In the doubles competition, Walid Ahouda and Yassine Dlimi (Morocco); Abdallah Shelbayeh and Mousa Al-Alkotop (Jordan); Aziz Dougaz and Iskandar Almansouri (Tunisia); Kareem Maamoun and Mohammad Safwat (Egypt) qualified for the semi-finals, and the Doubles final match will be played on Monday.

Fourth day’s Singles competition was competitive and exciting. Kuwaiti players Ali Al-Shatti and Bader Al-Abdallah beat Syria’s Yacoub Makzoume and Saudi Arabia’s Ammar Al-Hogabani. Kuwait’s Essa Qabazard lost to Tunisian Mohamed Oukaa (in the third group) 5/7, 3/6 while Yaqoub Mohammad lost to Jordan’s Abdallah Shelbayeh 1/6. 2/6. Lebanon’s Hassan Ibrahim defeated Saudi Arabian Saudi Al-Hogabani 6/0, 6/0.

Abdelraouf Abdelsalam

In the first group, Yassine Dlimi (from Morocco) defeated Mohammad Al-Awadhi 6/0, 6/0 as Iskandar Al-Mansouri (Bahrain) beat Bahrain’s Fares Abdel Kareem 6/0, 6/0. The second group saw Mohammad Safwat (Egypt) defeat Jordan’s Mousa AlKotop 7/5, 6/2; Benjamin Hassan (Lebanon) overpowered  Toufik Sahrali (Algeria) 6/3, 6/0, while Aziz Dougaz (Tunis) beat Rayan Dylan (Algeria) 6/3, 6/2.

Tournament referee Abdelraouf Abdelsalam said the fourth day’s matches were held indoors due to the rain. He said the Sheikh Jaber Al-Abdallah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah International Tennis Complex is ideal for international competition for several reasons including a sufficient number of indoor courts that can be used when necessary. He lauded the Kuwaiti chair umpires and line judges for their excellent performance.