Tennis: ITF J4 Open |09 September 2019

Laporte (right) and Italian partner Perego after winning the boys’ doubles title

Laporte joins forces with Perego to win boys’ doubles title

Young Seychellois tennis prodigy Damien Laporte joined forces with Italian Giulio Perego to win the boys’ doubles title of the International Tennis Federation J4 Open AENJ played in Barcelona, Spain from September 3-7.

In the final, the pair who train at the Sanchez Casal Academy, came from a set down to beat the Dutch duo of Bart Nouws and Fons Van Sambeek 2-1 (5-7, 6-3, 10-5).

In their first match, they beat Spanish Alex Parra and Bruno Navaroo 2-1 (3-6, 6-4, 10-7) to progress to the quarterfinals where they met Chinese Haoyuan Huang and Valentin Lapalu of France. They celebrated another victory on a 2-1 (2-6, 7-5, 11-9) score.

It was only in the semifinal that Laporte and Perego won in straight sets, beating Mathis Bondaz of France and Manuel Salvo of Argentina 2-0 (6-2, 6-3).

Speaking to Sports NATION, Laporte said “the tournament was hard, but it was a good experience with a new partner from the Sanchez Casal Academy.”

Meanwhile, Laporte entered the boys’ singles of the same competition but lost in the first round.

Spanish Mario Mansilla Diez won the boys’ singles title while the girls’ trophy went to another Spanish, Fiona Arrese Mata.

The girls’ doubles winners were Spanish Alejandra Ferrer Rodriguez and Cristina Mayorova Bakhtina.

G. G.