UPSET DEFEAT: Tournament fifth seed Dominique Covington of Great Britain suffered a shock 6-7, 1-6 defeat to 10th seed Chang Ya-Ting from Taiwan in the third round of the girls’ singles.
Three out of four players eliminated in third round of singles event
KUCHING: Malaysia’s challenge in the 20th Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup (II) ITF Junior Tennis Championship (Grade 3) almost came to a grinding halt yesterday after three out of four of its players were eliminated in the third round of the singles event.
Luck ran out for Colin Wong Wei Ming after he was outclassed 1-6, 1-6 by Australian Thomas Fancutt.
The ITF No. 611 Aussie player will next face the winner of the match between top seed Naoki Nakagawa of Japan and Anvit Bendre of India.
Thirteenth seed Ahmad Deedat Abdul Razak had yet to finish his third round match against the second seed from Thailand Chayanon Kaewsuto as play was disrupted by rain at around 12.40pm and 4:30pm.
Deedat narrowly lost the first set 5-7 and was leading Chayanon 3-1 in the second set when the rain ruined his comeback plan.
However, four other singles matches were completed, with third seed Callum Poland-Smith of Great Britain getting the better of his opponent Sahil Deshmukh, seeded 14th, 6-2, 6-2.
Sixth seed Samm Butler of Great Britain trounced Thailand’s Congsup Concar 6-1, 6-1 while 15th seed Makoto Ochi of Japan beat Arief Rahman of Indonesia 6-0, 6-1 and unseeded Djurabeck Karimov of Uzbekistan struggled to beat his Chinese opponent Huang Runhao 7-5, 7-6(5).
In the girls singles contest, Choo Lyn Yuen’s campaign was halted by top seed Barbara Stefkova of the Czech Republic who won 6-2, 6-4 while her Malaysian teammate Alyssa Boey is also out of contention following a 2-6, 1-6 defeat to American challenger Gabriella Umoquit.
Those who booked their place in the last eight were eighth seed Asiya Daur of Kazakhstan who whipped 12th seed Ann-Christin Nilsson 6-1, 6-1; Vita Taher of Indonesia who outplayed Taiwan’s Kao Pei-Wen 6-4, 6-3.
Ekaterina Klyueya of Kazakhstan booted out Uzbek lass Sarvinov Saidhujaeva 6-2, 6-3.
Four uncompleted doubles matches carried forward yesterday from Wednesday were also disrupted by rain.
They are the boys doubles match between Lin Wei-De (Taiwan)-Low Zhe Han (Malaysia) and third seeds Aman Agarval (India)-Samm Butler (Great Britain), with the scores tied at 2-6, 0-1, girls doubles matches between top seeded pair of Efriliya Herlina (Indonesia)-Carina Ma Ka Man (Hong Kong) trailing Aslina Chua (Malaysia)-Lo Yan Yin (Hong Kong) 4-6, 1-2.
Seventh seeds Melisa Bekirova and Sarvinoz Saidhujaeva from Uzbekistan were leading Rehmat Johal (Singapore)-Pranjala Yadlapalli (India) 6-4 while fourth seeds from Taiwan Huang En-Pei and Chang Ya-Ting led Kazakshtan pair Asiya Dair and Ekaterina Klyueva 6-1, 3-2 when play had to be stopped due to rain.
Those already in the last eight were eighth seeds Alexandra Grinchishina and Anatasiya Yepisheva from Kazakhstan, third seeds Ann-Christin Nilsson (Germany)-Maika Jae Tanpocco (Philippines), fifth seeds Mathita Dadi Reddy (India)-Vita Taher (Indonesia), sixth seeds Alyssa Boey (Malaysia)-Chang Ya-Ting Taiwan), and second seeds Dominique Covington (Great Britain)-Rheeya Doshi (Singapore).