22 Saturday, April 1, 2017 SPORTS Gonzales, Verbeek win doubles crown Doubles winners with from left, Khalid Ghuloom, Dr Faisal Al Mosawi, Verbeek, BTC President Khamis Al Muqla, Gonzales, Philippine Ambassador Alfonso Ver and BTC club manager Hamdi Abdul Jawad Aidan Payne/DTNN and Verbeek who were proving too my first time in Bahrain and found the a 6-3, 6-2 winner over Germany’s [email protected] strong for Fallert and Merckx and hospitality and organising excellent.” Florian Fallert and Norway’s Viktor op seeds Ruben Gonzales of the after winning a break in the second Gonzales said, “What can I say, Durasovic emerged victorious by 6-4, Philippines and Sem Verbeek game their dominant serving and the crowd was great and the support 7-6(1) against Tom Kocevar-Desman Tfrom the Netherlands comfortably returns ensured an easy second set from the Filipino supporters made of Slovenia. defeated Germany’s Florian Fallert victory in a quarter of an hour. it feel like I was playing Davis Cup The championship concludes today and Belgian Jonas Merckx 6-3, Gonzales and Verbeek started in Manila in front of a home crowd. with the singles final between Lescure 6-0 yesterday in the final of the their doubles campaign with a Round Having our ambassador watching and Durasovic at 5pm and is being Men’s Doubles of the Sixth of 16 6-2, 6-1 win over Bahrain’s made this special as well. This was held under the patronage of HH Bahrain International Tennis Hassan and Kareem Abdulnabi, then my first time in Bahrain and really Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Federation (ITF) Futures a quarter final win over the Dutch duo enjoyed it and the organisation, I also Representative of His Majesty the King Tournament at the Bahrain of Kevin and Tallon Griekspoor with hope that Sem and myself can team for Charity Works and Youth Affairs, Tennis Club premises in a walkover win and then knocked up again sometime in the future.” Chairman of the Supreme Council for Juffair. third seeds Anis Ghorbel of Tunisia Meanwhile in the singles semi- Youth and Sports and President of In the opening and Chilean Jorge Montero in the finals, Mick Lescure of France was Bahrain Olympic Committee. set, the first four semi-finals 6-3, 4-6, 11-9. games went with Fallert and Merckx advanced serve before to the final with a 6-3, 7-6(4) win Gonzales and over Slovakia’s Filip Horansky and Verbeek effected America’s Cameron Silverman in the the first break after Round of 16, then followed up with the game had gone a 6-3, 6-4 victory over fourth seeds to deuce. Francis Alcantara of the Philippines Roared on by a and Zimbabwe’s Benjamin Lock in sizeable number of the quarter finals and a semi-final 6-4, Filipinos in the crowd 6-2 win over Swedish second seeds the pair dominated Markus Eriksson and Milos Sekulic. much of the rest of the After the match Verbeek said, “It set and won a second was a delight to win and great playing break in the ninth game with his partner as it was the first time to wrap it up in a little we had teamed for a championship. I more than half an hour. feel during the game we did the right The second set from the things at the right time to win the start was nearly all Gonzales majority of the points. Really enjoyed Mick Lescure (FRA) Canadian ice dancers hit new high Helsinki, Finland and Guillaume Cizeron of France a “It’s great to have a 20-year partnership They took two years off following their ce dancers Tessa Virtue distant second with 76.89. and still enjoy going out there every day.” silver at the 2014 Sochi Games and have and Scott Moir hit a The three-time European champions Virtue and Moir are looking to add to been unbeatable as they returned this newI high with an electrifying have a mountain to climb to make up the their titles in 2010 and 2012, but have not season in a bid to recapture gold in Prince-inspired short dance 5.5-point gap in Saturday’s free dance competed in worlds since taking silver Pyeongchang next year. putting them on the brink of final. in 2013. “It’s nice to end the season with a a third gold at the world figure Three American couples -- Madison season’s best for sure but it was skating championships on Friday. Hubbell and Zachary Donohue, Madison Results just so much fun,” said 27-year-old Competing in their first worlds Chock and Evan Bates and brother-and- Virtue. Tessa Virtue since 2013, the returning Canadians sister Maia and Alex Shibutani -- are 1. Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir (CAN) 82.43, “The reason behind this comeback and Scott Moir had the Hartwall Arena crowd in placed just behind the French. 2. Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron was to challenge ourselves. The of Canada per- Helsinki on their feet after skating to “I felt really electrocuted, there was so (FRA) 76.89, competition is top-notch so we form during the “Kiss”, “5 Women” and “Purple Rain”. much energy going through my body,” 3. Madison Hubbell/Zacary Donohue needed to raise the level of our short dance, It earned the 2010 Olympic champions said 29-year-old Moir. (USA) 76.53, skating. a first-place score of 82.43 -- bettering “With all the pressure of the comeback 4. Madison Chock/Evan Bates (USA) 76.25, “We have an idea where our their own all-time best by 1.93 -- and left and the Olympics coming up we really 5. Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani (USA) skating is going and 2018 is the two-time holders Gabriella Papadakis just wanted to enjoy ourselves. 74.88, ultimate goal.”.