Turkmen tennis players continue their strong performance in the 2026 Davis Cup Juniors U16 Asia/Oceania Pre-Qualifying Event, which is being held in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, with the participation of 15 teams.
Following victories over Oman (3-0) and Myanmar (2-1), our compatriots claimed their third win of the tournament by defeating the second-seeded team from Singapore (2-1), thereby deservedly finishing first in Group B, The Golden age electronic newspaper reports.
Before the final round, both Turkmenistan and Singapore had already secured their places in the quarterfinals. Therefore, their head-to-head match was to determine which team would advance to the playoffs from first place and from second.
The match proved challenging for both sides. In the opening singles match, which lasted 1 hour and 28 minutes, Suleyman Hudayberdiyev lost to Justin Lie 2-6, 3-6, giving Singapore a 1-0 lead. As in the previous match against Myanmar, ninth-grade student at the School for Training Young Olympians, Aly Geldiyev, restored parity. His match against Andre Harnadi was highly competitive and physically demanding, lasting 3 hours and 22 minutes, setting a time record for all matches played that day. Credit must be given to Aly, who demonstrated strong character and remarkable determination: he first won the opening set in a tie-break, 7-6(5), and then took the second set 6-4, leveling the overall score between the teams at 1-1.
However, as events unfolded on the court, the challenges for the Turkmen players were not yet over. The decisive doubles match, in which Aly Geldiyev partnered with Kerimgeldi Guldurdyyev against the duo of Andre Harnadi and Justin Lie, began unsuccessfully for our team. They lost the first set 4–6. Nevertheless, they managed to regroup and turn the match around, winning the second set 6–4 and then clinching victory in a super tie-break, 10–8.
With this impressive come-from-behind victory, the Turkmen juniors confidently advanced to the quarterfinals from first place in Group B. There, they will face the fifth-seeded team from the Philippines. The Filipinos had previously defeated Laos (2-1) and Guam (3-0), but in the final round lost to the fourth-seeded team from Malaysia (0-3), finishing second in Group C.
The other quarterfinal matches will be Sri Lanka vs. Pacific Oceania, Malaysia vs. Singapore and Saudi Arabia vs. Vietnam.
