Muscat: Omani star Fatma Al Nabhani suffered the first round loss in the doubles competition of the $25,000 Incheon ITF Pro Circuit Tournament in South Korea on Tuesday.
According to information received here, Fatma and her Japanese partner Mari Osaka found Kamonwan Buayam of Thailand and Pei-Chi Lee of Chinese Taipei too hot to handle in their opening encounter.
Though Fatma and Mari Osaka did well in the beginning matching their rivals stroke for stroke, they couldn’t stop Kamonwan and Pei-Chi from winning the match 6-4, 6-2.
Fatma, however, will continue her singles campaign on Wednesday when she takes on Thailand’s Bunyawi Thamchaiwat in the first round.
Earlier, Fatma also took part in the $25,000 Goyang ITF Pro Circuit tournament in South Korea where her singles challenge ended in the quarterfinals while in the doubles the Omani girl and her Thai partner Patcharin Cheapchandej failed to get past the first round.
Last month, the Omani, whose highest career ranking of 362 came way back in 2010, took part in a highly rated $100,000 Anning ITF Pro Circuit tournament in China where she bowed out in the first round of both singles and doubles.
Fatma had a great year in 2015 when she won five $10,000 titles, including two back-to-back crowns in south Indian city of Hyderabad.
In 2013, she won back-to-back $10,000 Sharm El Sheikh titles in Egypt and similar level tournaments in Fujairah in 2010 and 2012 respectively.