The first week of the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors (J60) on Kigali’s clay courts concluded with thrilling finals that saw Japan’s third seed Kazuki Nakajima and China’s fourth seed Liu Xiang emerge winners in the boys’ and girls’ singles categories respectively. The finals took place at IPRC-Kigali Ecology Tennis Courts on Saturday, August 9, paving the way for the second week of competition which will kick off on Monday. The day opened with the girls’ singles final, where Xiang staged a stunning comeback against third seed Liza Richterman from Switzerland. Down 4-6 in the opening set, Xiang showed remarkable resilience in a tense second set, saving multiple match points before forcing a tiebreak, which she claimed 7-6 to leave it for set three decided the winner. ALSO READ: Rwanda’s Karenzi gets tennis scholarship in US The decisive set mirrored the drama of the second, with both players exchanging breaks and refusing to give in. In another nail-biting tiebreak, Xiang held her nerve to seal the victory 4-6, 7-6, 7-6, earning the loudest applause of the day for her grit and composure under pressure. In the boys’ singles final, Nakajima delivered a commanding performance against second seed Eaden-Zack Harron. Combining aggressive baseline play with well-timed net approaches, Nakajima broke early in both sets and maintained control throughout, closing out the match 6-2, 6-3 to capture his first J60 title in Kigali.
