Ahmed El Menshawy suffered a shock loss in the quarter finals of the AEGON British Junior National Championships to David O’Leary at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton.
The 18-year-old had been in commanding form, recording straight-set victories in both rounds one and two, but he was unable to continue his title campaign against O’Leary losing in straight sets 6-3 7-5.
The AEGON British Junior National Championships is the highest domestic accolade available to Britain’s most promising young players and past champions included the current men’s and women’s British number ones, Andy Murray and Anne Keothavong.
The number one seed, an AEGON FutureStars squad member, admitted that he had not been on form making continuous mistakes, whereas his opponent was using all opportunities to his advantage.
He said: “I’m disappointed with my performance. I was sloppy and I was consistently making the same mistakes, I lost my breaks four or five times which is not good at all. “Well done to Dave, he played well and used the blustery conditions to his advantage by getting the ball high with the wind behind it, making it hard for me to take on effectively.”
Earlier in the week El Menshawy had secured his second round win against Yorkshire’s Gavin Davison in straight sets with 7-5 6-3, continuing to the next round in his title challenge in the 18 and under boys singles. This second round match was a perfect follow up to an impressive debut performance on Monday against Nicholas Sayer from Hampshire, winning by a strong 6-0 6-4.