Oman’s Fatma Al Nabhani storms into doubles quarterfinals in China

Muscat: Omani ace tennis player Fatma Al Nabhani stormed into the quarterfinals of the double competition in the $25,000 ITF Pro Circuit tournament in Guiyang, China on Tuesday.
According to information received here, the Sultanate star combined well with her Russian partner Anastasia Gasanova to record a thrilling first round victory over Thailand’s Kamonwan Buayam and China’s Fang Ying Xun.
Fatma and Anastasia, however, had to survive some tense moments against their fourth-seeded opponents before pulling off a sensational match tie-break win.
Oman-Russian duo fought bravely to win the first set tie-break at 7-6 (5). But their opponents showed their fighting qualities to take ease to a 2-6 in the second set.
However, Fatma and Anastasia regrouped themselves to win the last match tie-break and a place in the last eight with a final scoreline of 7-6 (5), 2-6 (10-4).
In the last eight stage, Fatma and Anastasia will clash with Chinese duo of Hanyu Guo and Yukun Zhang, who eased to a 6-0, 6-0 win over their campatriots Xiao Chen Fu and Wanyu Tang.
Singles challenge
Fatma, who has been given the sixth seeding, will begin her singles campaign on Wednesday when she takes on local girl Xinyu Gao.
The Omani girl has recently won the second place in a $10,000 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria ITF Pro Circuit tournament in Spain, where she also reached the semifinals of the doubles competition in the company of Belgium’s Helene Scholsen.