(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Her determination is second to none and her consistent efforts finally reaped fruit as Oman's tennis ace Fatma al Nabhani won her first title of the year in Spain's Las Palmas de Gran Canaria on Friday.
Second-seeded Fatma and her Spanish partner Arabela Fernandez Rabener clinched the doubles crown with a hard-fought 2-6, 7-5 [10-5] win over Argentine-Japanese duo of Victoria Bosio and Kana Daniel in the US$15,000 ITF tournament.
Speaking to Muscat Daily after her win in Spain, Fatma said, 'I am very glad to have finally won the first title this year. There were quite a few occasions when I was so close from winning but it didn't happen. So, I'm happy to have had my hands on trophy.
Fatma al Nabhani in action at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in Spain last week
'The final was a close affair. We had to fight for every point . We did not have the best start as we lost the first set. But we started playing better after the first set and came back strongly. We did well and were able to close the match with a win.' The title is a timely boost for Fatma, who now heads back home to prepare for the forthcoming second Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan from September 17-27. Tennis as a sport is being introduced at the Games for the first time.
Fatma said she wasn't sure if she would play another ITF event ahead of Turkmenistan Games.
The 26 year old has recently been in impressive form, reaching the final of doubles last week at the same venue. Fatma and Arabela lost to Spain's Carlota Molina Megias and Anastasia Yakimova of Belarus in the final.
So far this year, Fatma has reached the final of doubles event twice in Cairo, Egypt (January), once each in Le Havre, France (March) and in Hua Hin, Thailand (May). She also made it to the semifinals in doubles in Hua Hin (July), Hammamet in Tunisia (April).
However, Fatma is yet to win any singles title so far this year, though she was runner-up in Cairo in January when she lost to Belgium Helene Scholsen 2-6, 5-7. She did make it to the semifinals twice in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. On Friday she lost to Sweden's Fanny Ostlund 1-6, 2-6 while last week Fatma went down to Italy's Gala Sanesi 1-6, 4-6. Earlier in March, she had reached the semifinals in Gwalior, India.
With her latest points earned at the back-to-back tournaments in Spain, her singles ranking has reached 477 in singles while she is all set to break into top 500 in doubles with her current rank at 506.
Fatma's career-best singles ranking was 362 in October 2010 while in doubles, she rose to 238 in April 2014.
So far this year, the Omani star has recorded 15 wins and 12 losses in singles while in doubles, she has 18 victories and 11 defeats.
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