Simon Carr

Impressive Carr's Tunisian triumph

Mullingar teenage tennis sensation Simon Carr’s career moved to the next rung of the ladder with a fantastic performance in the heat of north Africa last week.

Mullingar Tennis Club alumnus and former Shandonagh and Westmeath minor footballer Carr (17) won Category 3 (Boy’s Singles) of the International Tennis Federation/Confederation of African Tennis (ITF/CAT) Junior Championships in the Tunisian capital of Tunis last week.

Carr defeated No. 3-seeded Russian Alexey Zakharov in the category final in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4.

The former Coláiste Mhuire student barely broke a sweat in the opening round, when he saw off Morocco’s Younes Lalami Laaroussi (6-0, 6-2), and was even more convincing in the last 16, when he dismantled Portuguese opponent Salvador Bandeira without dropping a game.

In the quarter-final against Vladyslav Lobak (Ukraine), Carr – a former Westmeath Examiner Young Sports Star of the Year – eased through the first set 6-1, and battled his way to a 7-5 win in the second.

Turkey’s Cagatay Sami Soke followed in the semis, which Carr won 6-3, 6-2, and the Irishman’s straight-set win in the decider meant that he had successfully negotiated his way through the tournament without dropping a set.