Aussie girls victorious at qualifier

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BOUND FOR PROSTEJOV: The top four finishers posing with SLTA president Dato Patrick Liew (fifth right) and (from third right) tournament referee Gary Au-Yeung, ITF representative Suresh Menon and organising committee members after the prize-giving ceremony.

KUCHING: Australia retained their status as the top team in the Asian-Oceania region when they beat China 2-0 in the final of the final qualifiers for the World Junior Team Competition (Girls) at SLTA tennis centre yesterday.

Australia’s number two player Priscilla Hon put her team ahead by beating China’s number three player Ren Jia-Qi 6-3, 7-5 in the first singles. The lead was doubled by number one player Sara Tomic who beat the injured number one player from China Cao Si-Qi 6-4, 6-2 in the second singles match.

With the final already won, the Aussies chose to continue with the doubles match where Hon and Kimberly Birrell were leading Ren and Li Yue-Nw 6-3, 5-6 when play was abandoned due to the heavy downpour at 3pm.

“The girls performed well today as a team and as the top seeds in this tournament, we were under pressure to do well. We are excited to get to Czech Republic and what we had played this week will very much help us get a good seeding the Grand Finals,” said Australian captain Anthony Richardson.

He said Sara was playing very well and displaying very strong mental toughness against her opponents.

“I think we played very good tennis this week and the best tennis today against the Chinese,” said Richardson, adding that the girls had benefited greatly from a playing tour in Europe last year.

On China, Richardson said they were really a strong team and a tough one to beat in yesterday’s final, adding that it was shame that their top player Cao was playing with an elbow injury.

“They are a very much improved team and will do well in the Grand Finals,” he predicted.

The Aussie girls will head to Europe in five or six weeks’ time to play in five or six tournaments in the lead-up to the Grand Finals in August.

Fourth seeds India won the fight for third place, beating sixth seeds Thailand 3-0.

The points came from Vanshika Sawhney who tamed Manita Bootsarakomvisit 6-0, 6-4 and Pranjala Yadlapalli overcame Napharat Sawangkaew 6-3, 6-4 while Vanshika-Pranjala beat Manita-Wijitbanjong Pakkaro 7-5, 6-1.

Thailand captain Orawan Lamanthong was very pleased with her team’s performance, saying that this was the second time that Thailand had qualified for the Grand Finals, the first was in 2007.

Asked about her team’s chances in Prostejov, she replied: “Not sure, we need to go back to Thailand and practice more.”

Third seeds Japan and fifth seeds South Korea finished joint fifth when play was abandoned in the doubles where the Japanese pair of Momoko-Kobori were leading Bae-Um 6-4.

The match was tied at 1-1, with Chihiro Muramatsu beating Um Seong-Young 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 in the first singles and Bae Do Hee defeating Momoko Kobori 6-2, 6-3.

In sixth place were eighth seeds New Zealand who beat seventh seeds Chinese Taipei 2-0 while Indonesia came in ninth after they beat Kazakhstan 2-0.

Host Malaysia improved their 12th placing last year by finishing in 11th spot after beating Hong Kong 2-1 in the play-off match.

Nurin Nabilah Roslan gave Malaysia the 1-0 lead after beating Ip Wai Lam 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 in the first singles and Malaysia were two up when Yus Syazlin Nabila Yusri whitewashed Jacinta Chen 6-0, 6-0 in the second singles.

Hong Kong won the consolation point as Nurin and Loo Shi Pei retired after leading IP-Claudia Ng 6-0, 4-3 in the doubles.

Meanwhile, Uzbekistan thrashed Philippines 2-0 to end up in 13th position and the other tie affected by rain was between Sri Lanka and Singapore whereby both teams were declared joint 15th at the abandonment of the doubles.

Earlier, Nethmie Waduge gave Sri Lanka the lead after defeating Nicole Tan 6-4, 6-4 in the first singles but Izabella Tan levelled for Singapore 6-2, 6-3 in the second singles.

The score 6-3, 1-1 was in favour of the Sri Lankans before ITF representative Suresh Menon called the match off after the rain.

The top four teams Australia, China, India and Thailand of this competition will play in the Grand Finals in Prostejov, Czech Republic from Aug 13-18.