Ukrainian lands Israeli national tennis title

Ukrainian Olga Fridman caused an upset by defeating number one seed Julia Glushko to be crowned the women’s Israel national tennis champion.

The 17-year-old, who’s ranked 276 in the world, beat Glushko 6-2, 6-2 in just 47 minutes. She said: “I’m really excited at winning, but to be honest I was expecting more of a fight from Julia.”

Holding an Israeli citizenship, she hopes to represent Israel sooner rather than later, saying: “At the moment it depends on my parents. I really love the country and I believe it will eventually happen.” Glushko did win the doubles tournament.

In the men’s competition, Dudi Sela won his third consecutive title after beating Amir Weintraub 7-5, 6-2. He said: “It feels really good to be the national champion for the sixth time.”
Sela and Weintraub teamed up in the doubles, though were beaten by an old double act of the returning Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich.