Kenyan duo storm ITF doubles semis: Cheruiyot and Kibet dismiss Indians to make last four of junior circuit

By ELIZABETH MBURUGU

Kevin Cheruiyot and Ibrahim Kibet dismissed Indians Anirudh Satishchandra and Manav Pondkule to advance to the semi-finals of the ITF Kenya Junior Championships currently on at Nairobi Club. 

The pair survived a heated match winning in two sets of 6-3 7-6 (3).

Cheruiyot told FeverPitch “the match was tough but we gave it our best.”

Looking forward to their next match he said, “We want to play well to gain victory, our aim from now on is to display high standards of tennis.”

They started off well taking the first set 6-3 but the second set proved to be a hard nut to crack as they fought relentlessly to win 7-6 (3).

Brimming with confidence Kibet was optimistic they will make it to the finals.

“We want to be in the finals because this is our last chance to make Kenya proud,” he said. The pair has been the only Kenyans to post impressive results.

Kenyan born Mwenda Mbithi now of US teaming up with Jerome Romauldez of Philippines dismissed Omar Ahmed of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Dawood Hashim of Kuwait 7-5 7-3 (3). Mbithi also excelled in the boys’ singles beating Amarnath Arora of India 6-3 6-3.

Polish prowess

Tanzania’s Emmanuel Mallya and Tumaini Meshuko could not stand the heat generated by Erekle Klimiashvili of Georgia and Mateusz Smolicki of Poland.

They fell 6-7 (7) 2-6 to bow out of the tournament, Mallya and Meshuko were second leg winners.

Lobelo Mosehle of Lesotho and Ross Price of Great Britain laboured to a 7-5 4-6 (10-8) victory against Indians Prajwal Dev and Aditya Gokhale.                                                              However India was not left out as Udayan Bhakar joined hands with Italian Nicolas Merzetti to beat Britons Samuel Kiladejo and Lawrence Perrin.

Dev triumphed 6-3 6-3 over Alexey Nestrov of Russia. Another Indian Vasisht Cheruku prevailed over Kiladejo 7-6(3) 6-3.

Stephanie Mbaya teaming up with Burundian Mariam Mujawimana fell 6-7 (4) 6-4 (10-6) to her former doubles partner Maria Dominique of Philippines and Amelie Boy of Mauritius.

Nelise Verster of South Africa trounced seed three Devanshi Bhimjiyani of India 6-1 6-1 to make it to the semi-finals of the girls’ singles.

Jessica Crivelletto of Switzerland saw off Ukranian Krystyna Pochtovyk 6-2 6-2 to grab a semis berth.

Crevelleto partnering with Anita Ance Detlava of Latvia ousted Russians Mariya Luss and Maria Tryina 6-2 6-0.

Tournament seed six Antonia Paleczek of Austria downed Nikola Matuszak of Poland 6-3 6-1 to cruise to the girls’ semis. Katarina Weymouth of Great                                       Britain thumped Snehal Mane of India 7-5 6-1.

All semi-final matches will be played today and the winners square it out in the finals tomorrow.

 ––emburugu@standardmedia.co.ke