Italian Samuele Ramazzotti in action against Japanese Shohei Chikami during yesterday's 49th International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior Circuit boy's singles final. The unseeded Ramazzotti beat second seed Chikami 6-4, 6-2 for the title. BT/Syarif Rasani
Unseeded Italian Samuele Ramazzotti shocked second seed Shohei Chikami of Japan 6-4, 6-2 to win the boy's singles title at the 49th International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior Circuit yesterday.
It was Ramazzotti's second win in as many weeks over the Japanese after he beat him for the 7th ITF Malacca International Junior Championship 2014 boys' doubles title last week, where he partnered Turkey's Kaya Gore.
It was also the second shock that the Italian has dished out in Brunei after taking down top seed Nawakarn Khunjan of Thailand 6-7, 6-4, 6-1on Friday to move into Saturday's semi-finals, where he then beat Japan's 11th seed Katsuya Ikezoi 1-6, 6-0, 7-5 to book his slot in the final.
Meanwhile in the girl's singles, 15th seed Qi-Li Ma from China was crowned champion after an easy 6-3, 6-0 thrashing over 12th seed Yang Lee from Chinese Taipei.
Chikami started off the boys' final looking to be the stronger of the two and took a 4-0 lead before Ramazzotti finally heated up.
Ramazzotti's response, though, saw him take six straight games to clinch the first set.
His domination continued into the second set, where he only allowing Chikami to take two games to trail 2-3 before sealing the final three.
Speaking to The Brunei Times after the game, Ramazzotti said his plan before heading to the ITF Junior Circuit in Asia was try to win something so he would break into the top-500.
"I was very satisfied with my first win in the ITF singles," Ramazzotti said after the win at the National Tennis Centre of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports Complex in Berakas.
Competing in Malacca last week, Ramazzotti and his Turkish partner defeated fourth seeds Chikami and compatriot Yousuke Watanuki.
Ramazzotti's coach of 10 years, Latini Luca said he didn't expect his student to win the first set when he was behind 4-0.
"Samuele thought it would be really hard to win the first set but I just told him to fight point by point and see what happens," said Luca.
"I didn't believe he would be able to recover because it was too far, so it was really a great recovery.
"When he was down I also told him to think about taking it to the third set.
"Now we will head back to Italy and prepare (for) the red clay season in Europe, with the first being in the next four or five weeks," added Luca.
Chikami, who won the boys' singles in Malacca, felt that he played his best but his opponent was once again too good for him.
The boy's doubles final saw top seeds Anthony Susanto and Tio Juliandi Hutauruk from Indonesia edge eighth seeds Tin Chen and Chun Han Tsai from Chinese Taipei 6-3, 3-6, 11-9 on Saturday.
The day also saw top seeds Miyo Kobayashi from Japan and Yi-Chi Ma from Chinese Taipei outplay fifth seeds Lee and Qi-Li Ma 3-6, 6-3, 11-9 for the girl's doubles title.
