Canadian Jay Lin Gibson and Tunisian Nadine Hamrouni have advanced to the semifinals of the ongoing second week of the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors (Grade 4) tournament going on at IPRC-Kigali Ecology Tennis courts.
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Both players have been standout performers over the course of the campaign, winning trophies in the first week in the boys' and girls' respectively on Saturday, August 17.
Gibson triumphed over Burundi’s Allan Gatoto, while Hamrouni defeated Belgian Anouk Vandevelde to take the titles.
Gibson now has his eyes set on winning the second week. He secured his place in the last four after overcoming India's Shaurya Swarup 6-4, 6-0 in the quarterfinal on Thursday. Hamrouni, on the other hand, continued her dominant run by defeating Japan's Riko Shuzui 6-2, 6-0 to advance to the girls' singles semifinals.
In other boys' quarterfinal matches, Belgium’s Clement Wauters fell to a 6-0, 6-1 defeat at the hands of Poland's Wiktor Jez.
Elsewhere, Japan's Eiji Fujita cruised past Nigeria's Mubarak Ayodeji Ganiyu in two straight sets 6-2, 6-0 while India's Sreemanya Reddy Anugonda battled through a tough match against Ghana's Sisu-Makena Tomega, winning 7-6(5), 6-3.
In the girls' category, first-week finalist Anouk Vandevelde tasted another setback in the quarterfinals, losing 6-1, 6-3 to Mexico's Romina Dominguez Garcia.
The semifinal matchups are set for Thursday, with Romina Dominguez Garcia facing Sreemanya Reddy Anugonda, while defending champion Nadine Hamrouni will take on Leila Akhmetova.
In the boys' singles semifinals, Eiji Fujita will meet Wiktor Jez and defending champion Jay Lin Gibson will face Juliusz Stanczyk.
The second week of the tournament, which began on Monday, August 19, will continue through August 24.
This ITF Junior Tennis World Tour (Grade 4) event is a crucial opportunity for young athletes to earn points toward their professional rankings, with 60 points awarded to the winner and 36 points to the runner-up.