Turkmen tennis players continue their strong performance in the U16 Davis Cup Juniors - Asia Oceania Pre-Qualifying Event, which is being held in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, with the participation of 15 teams.
Following victories over Oman (30) and Myanmar (21), our compatriots claimed their third win of the tournament by defeating the second-seeded team from Singapore (21), thereby deservedly finishing first in Group B.
Before the final round, both Turkmenistan and Singapore had already secured their places in the quarterfinals.Therefore, their head-to-head match was to determine which team would advance to the playoffs from first place and which from second.
The match proved challenging for both sides.In the opening singles match, which lasted 1 hour and 28 minutes, Suleyman Hudayberdiyev lost to Justin Lee 26, 36, giving Singapore a 10 lead.
As in the previous match against Myanmar, ninth-grade student of the School for Training Young Olympians, Ali Geldiyev, restored parity.His match against Andre Garnadi was highly competitive and physically demanding, lasting 3 hours and 22 minutes—setting a time record for all matches played that day.
Credit must be given to Ali, who demonstrated strong character and remarkable determination: he first won the opening set in a tie-break, 76(5), and then took the second set 64, leveling the overall score between the teams at 11.
However, as events unfolded on the court, the challenges for the Turkmen players were not yet over.The decisive doubles match, in which Ali Geldiyev partnered with Kerimgeldi Guldurdyyev against the duo of Andre Garnadi and Justin Lee, began unsuccessfully for our team.
They lost the first set 46.Nevertheless, they managed to regroup and turn the match around, winning the second set 64 and then clinching victory in a super tie-break, 108.
With this impressive come-from-behind victory, the Turkmen juniors confidently advanced to the quarterfinals from first place in Group B.There, they will face the fifth-seeded team from the Philippines.
The Filipinos had previously defeated Laos (21) and Guam (30), but in the final round lost to the fourth-seeded team from Malaysia (03), finishing second in Group C.
The other quarterfinal matches will be: Sri Lanka vs.Oceania, Malaysia vs.Singapore, and Saudi Arabia vs.Vietnam.