ARIEZ Elyaas Deen Heshaam earned an early birthday gift when he captured the men's singles title in the BMW Malaysian National Circuit Masters Finals at National Tennis Centre in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
Ariez, who turns 19 on Dec 24, avenged his defeat to Si Yew Ming at last year's Masters final by overcoming the veteran 6-3, 6-4 in the final match of the round robin event.
The Sarawak-born had earlier recorded wins over Sean Yip (6-1, 6-0) and Corneil Spaapen (6-0, 6-0) in the four-player championship group.
Except for Yew Ming and Ariez, the men's competition, however, had a weakened field in the absence of Nazim Khan, the national No 1 by virtue of being ranked 1,474 on the ATP Tour.
Syed Agil Syed Naguib, Ahmad Deedat Razak and veteran Abdul Hazli Zainuddin all either did not qualify or withdrew.
However, credit to Ariez Elyaas, a Davis Cupper for his impressive win over Yew Ming as he worked hard throughout the season to become the national champion.
In the women's event, Aslina Chua proved her mettle by bagging the title with wins over Alyssa Boey (6-0, 6-3), R. Archnaah (6-1, 6-0) and Ti Jia Wei (6-3, 6-2).
The 16-year-old earned a qualifying round wild card for next year's BMW Malaysian Open for the win.
S. Theiviya, who won two titles on the circuit this season, along with Choo Lyn Yuen and Jawairiah Noordin, were among the notable absentees.
Theiviya's father S. Selvarajoo, a former national champion, said his daughter was down with fever a day before the start of the tournament.
"Theiviya had participated in two ITF events in Indonesia before falling sick," said Selvarajoo.
RESULTS
ALL ROUND ROBIN (All singles)
Men: 1 Ariez Elyaas Deen Heshaam, 2 Si Yew Ming, 3 Sean Yip, 4 Corneil Spaapen, 5 Low Kar Win, 6 Colin Wong, 7 Bryan Lim, 8 Corneil Spaapen.Women: 1 Aslina Chua, 2 Alyssa Boey, 3 R. Archnaah, 4 Ti Jia Wei.
Boys' Under-16: 1 Kaoy Hao Sheng, 2 Talhah Rahizam, 3 Sheikh Ameer Sheikh Ahmad, 4 Tan Zu Zinyang, 5 Chin Yen Tong, 6 Ranveer Singh, 7 Rohaizat Azhop, 8 Nor Faezzam Said, 9 Saiful Azry Shamsuddin, 10 Khairil Anas Rahim.Under-14: 1 Alvin Teng, 2 Ryan Lee, 3 Azrul Ekhsan Azman, 4 Naufal Siddiq Kamaruzzaman, 5 Wan Muhd Fakhrul Iman Saiful, 6 Satveer Singh, 7 Adam Syafiq, 8 Danial Ahmad Farid, 9 Ulwan Soufi Usop.
Girls' Under-16: 1 Yussyazlin Nabila, 2 Nurin Nabila Roslan, 3 Michelle Khoo, 4 Vivecca Dharni.
Under-14: 1 Loo Shi Pei, 2 Suhana Sofia, 3 Aida Hereena, 4 Nur Hazira Hamidan, 5 Linda Liang, 6 Nurul Aminah Zamzury, 7 Juliana Shalini, 8 Shasha Naomi Nair, 9 Elysia Wan, 10 Aznor Qistina.
