DJERBA, May 29, 2018

Hady Habib is the champion of last week’s $15,000 Djerba Open, the 20th ITF Pro Circuit men’s event held on Tunisian soil this season. The 19-year-old US-American clinched his maiden Futures title with a 7-6, 6-4 upset over top seed Moez Echargui of Tunisia in Sunday’s singles final.

Habib fired nine aces, winning 73 per cent of his first service points and broke hish opponent’s serve four times to prevail in two hours and six minutes.

“I’m happy to win the title. I think that I played solid in the first set. I kept focused and waited for my opportunity. The I was able to win the tie break,” Habib told.

On Saturday, Anis Ghorbel from Tunisia and Vasko Mladenov of Bulgaira clinched their second consecutive doubles title. The top seeds beat second favourites Alexis Klegou of Benin and Italian Francesco Vilardo 6-3, 4-6, 10-7. The encounter lasted one hour and 24 minutes.

Anis Ghorbel and Vasko Mladenov – photo: Manaa Mohamed Aziz

“It was a tough match. We all knew each other. I guess we played with each other a lot. Vasko and I stayed very calm on court during all the tough moments. With two wins now, we want to go for a third,” Ghorbel is looking forward to next week.

“It was a very good week for us again against very tough opponents. We had a bit of luck in the end but we are very happy to stay focused and take the title,” Mladenov added.