Altmaier emerges boys’ champion

GERMANY’S Daniel Altmaier lived up to his top billing by beating France’s Antoine Escoffier 6-4, 6-3 to clinch the boys’ singles title in the Qatar F1 Futures tournament at the Khalifa International Complex last week.

Altmaier had it relatively easy in the $15,000 prize-money tournament in which he dropped only a set, against Sweden’s sixth seed Markus Eriksson in the quarterfinal.

Qatar is proving to be a happy hunting ground for Altmaier.

The 18-year-old had won the Qatar F4 Futures title last year. He later went on to win the Belgium F2 Futures title the same year.

All three Qataris — Moussa Shanan, his brother Mubarak and Jabr Al Mutawa — crashed out in the first round. 

Chile’s Jorge Montero and the Netherlands’ Sem Verbeek won the doubles title, defeating Swedish pair of Markus Eriksson and Milos Sekulic 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 10-7 in a thrilling final,  decided in the super tie-break. 

Meanwhile, the Qatar F2 Futures tournament began at the same venue last Monday. dsp