Ï Turkmen tennis player wins gold and silver at tournament in Saudi Arabia
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Turkmen tennis player wins gold and silver at tournament in Saudi Arabia

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Turkmen tennis player wins gold and silver at tournament in Saudi Arabia

The 13-year-old Turkmen tennis player Suleyman Hudayberdiyev twice climbed the podium at the international tournament in Saudi Arabia. The competition was held in Jeddah under the auspices of the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) and brought together 36 juniors under 14 years of age from 13 countries.

In singles, our compatriot won silver, and in doubles, he won the highest award.

On his way to the singles final, number one seed S. Hudayberdiyev won three victories, defeating successively Cameron Prattley (China Hong Kong) – 6:2, 6:1, Elyas Algafli (Saudi Arabia) – 6:1, 6:3 and Fahad Saif (Iraq) – 6:0, 6:2.

In the decisive match for the main prize, which was a repeat of the final of the «Ashgabat Open 2024», Suleyman met with the fourth seeded Muhammad Hassan Usmani from Pakistan. If at the tournament in Ashgabat our tennis player won only one game against the Pakistani, then this time S. Hudayberdiyev showed more worthy resistance to his opponent, taking four games - three in the first set and one in the second.

In the doubles competition, the singles finalists Suleyman Hudayberdiyev and Muhammad Hassan Usmani teamed up and left no chance for any of their opponents. In the quarterfinals, they easily beat Omar Hashem and Saif Hashem from Jordan – 6:1, 6:1, in the semifinals they were stronger than the international duo of Marcus Lorenzo Go (Philippines) and Fahad Saif (Iraq) – 7:5, 6:2, and in the final they prevailed in the super tie-break over the second-seeded pair of Anas Alzahrani and Suhail El-Taji El-Farouqi from Saudi Arabia – 7:5, 4:6, 10:8.

At the award ceremony, Suleyman Hudayberdiyev received prizes from world tennis legend Rafael Nadal, the 2008 Olympic champion in singles and 2016 Olympic champion in doubles, winner of 22 Grand Slam tournaments, 36 «Masters» tournaments, and five-time Davis Cup winner as part of the Spanish national team.

Suleyman Hudayberdiyev has been playing tennis since he was 6 years old. He first made people talk about him in 2023, when he won the silver medal at the Central Asian U12 Championship in Ashgabat as part of the Turkmenistan team. Last year was more successful for the young talent from Turkmenistan. In a duet with his compatriot Emirhan Rustamov, Suleyman won the silver medal at the «2nd Open Dushanbe Championship 14&Under» in Tajikistan and the «Issyk Kul Tournament U14» in Cholpon-Ata (Kyrgyzstan), and in a duet with Russian Jamal Hakimov, he won the silver medal at the President of Tajikistan Cup among players under 14.

In October, Suleyman Hudayberdiyev took second place in singles at the «3rd Qatar Asian Junior Tournament 14 & U» in Doha. In November, he repeated this achievement at the Ashgabat Open 2024 international peer tournament. And now he has also won silver and gold in singles and doubles at the «Asian 14 & Under Category 2 Jeddah» in Saudi Arabia.

Suleyman Hudayberdiyev successfully combines sports with studying in the 8th grade of the specialised secondary school №86 in Ashgabat, speaks English fluently. And he plays tennis with coach Gurbanberdi Gurbanberdiyev.

Earlier in an interview with our website, Suleyman Hudayberdiyev stated that he dreams of to glorify Turkmenistan by becoming the world's number one tennis player.