ON WINNING STREAK: Stefkov qualified for the last four after dismissing Taiwan’s Huang En-Pei in the girls singles quarter-finals of the 20th Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup (II) ITF junior tennis championship (Grade 3) held at SLTA Courts yesterday.
KUCHING: Tournament favourite, Barbara Stefkova continued her winning streak and qualified for the top four after dismissing Taiwan’s Huang En-Pei in the girls singles quarterfinals of the ongoing 20th Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup (II) ITF junior tennis championship (Grade 3) held at SLTA Courts yesterday.
Stefkova from Czech Republic who is the event’s top seed and is ITF ranked No. 177. She trounced ninth seed Huang (ITF No. 437) in straight sets of 6-4, 6-1 to meet eighth seed Asiya Dair of India in the semi-finals. Dair defeated unseeded Gabriella Umoquit of the US 7-5, 6-3 in the other last eight match.
Another Taiwan challenger, Chang Ya-Ting also continued to shine after defeating much higher seeded players and yesterday the ITF No. 452 player whitewashed fourth seed Efriliya Herlina of Indonesia with an easy 6-0, 6-1 win.
Chang’s opponent in the last four is unseeded Indonesian player Vita Taher who disposed of Kazakhstan’s Ekaterina Klyueya 7-6(5), 0-6, 6-2.
In the boys’ singles contest, top seed Naoki Nagakawa of Japan marched into the semis after his opponent from Australia, Thomas Fancutt retired due to injury.
Naoki was leading Fancutt 7-6(5), 1 – 0 when the Aussie lad retired. The Japanese lad, who is ITF No. 128, will take on wild card entry and third seed Callum Poland-Smith in the last four today after the Briton defeated fifth seed Teeradon Tortrakul of Thailand 6-3, 7-5.
In the other semi-final, sixth seed Samm Butler of Great Britain will face unseeded Uzbek player, ITF No. 605 Djurabeck Karimov.
Butler beat Makoto Ochi of Japan 6-3, 6-1 in the quarterfinals while Karimov beat Chayanon Kaewsuto of Thailand 1-6, 6-4 (7-5). After causing an upset in the second round by beating top seeds Efriliya Herlina (Indonesia) and Carina Ma Ka Man (Hong Kong) 6-4, 6-3, the combined pair of Aslina Chua (Malaysia) and Lo Yan Yin (Hong Kong) failed to advance to the semi-finals.
They were beaten 6 – 2, 4 – 6 (10-6) by the Kazakhstan pair of Alexandra Grinchishina and Anatasiya Yepisheva.
The eighth seed will play the winner of the quarterfinal match between third seeds Ann-Christin Nilsson (Germany) – Maika Jae Tanpoco (Philippines) and Mahitha Dadi Reddy (India) and Vita Taher (Indonesia).
Fourth seeds Huang En-Pei and Ma Yi-Chi of Taiwan did not even had to sweat for the win as they were given a walkover by the Uzbek pair of Melisa Bekirova and Sarvinoz Saidhujaeva.
FRIENDS FROM OVERSEAS: Sports Assistant Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin (third right) and Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association president Dato Patrick Liew (second left) chat with players and coaches during the welcoming dinner for the 20th Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup (II) ITF Junior Tennis Championship (Grade 3) at a local hotel Thursday night. — Photo by Chimon Upon
Huang-Ma will next play combined pair of Alyssa Boey (Malaysia) and Chang Ya-Ting (Taiwan), seeded sixth, in the last four after the pair upstaged second seeds Dominique Covington (Great Britain) and Rheeya Doshi (India) in the other quarterfinal yesterday.
In the boys’ doubles quarterfinals, the Taiwan pair of Liang Wen-Chun and Yu Shao-Yu, seeded fourth, booked their place in the last four after beating fifth seeds Congsup Congcar (Philippines) and Hua Runhao (China) 1-6, 7-6(4), (10-7).
Sixth seeds Ahmad Deedat Abdul Razak (Malaysia) and Armano Soemarno are through to the last four after upstaging third seeded pair Aman Agarwal (India)-Samm Butler (Great Britain) 6-2, 7-5 in another quarterfinal match yesterday.
As at press time, the rest of the doubles matches were still ongoing.