First ITF pro ranking point for Assri

0
HISTORIC ACHIEVMENT: Local tennis ace, Mohd Assri Merzuki (right) collected his first professional ranking point by winning the first round of the India F1 Futures. At left is his coach Doru Murariu.

HISTORIC ACHIEVMENT: Local tennis ace, Mohd Assri Merzuki (right) collected his first professional ranking point by winning the first round of the India F1 Futures. At left is his coach Doru Murariu.

KUCHING: Local tennis ace, Mohd Assri Merzuki made a historic breakthrough in his professional career after gaining the first International Tennis Federation (ITF) professional ranking point on Wednesday.

The 18-year-old wildcard entry beat Japan’s Katsushi Fukuda, in straight sets of 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of India’s F1 Futures at the TNTA Courts, MRC Stadium in Chennai, India.

He came back from three games down in the second set to defeat Fukuda, ITF’s men’s singles No. 1,219 player.

Assri however lost 4-6, 2-6 to tournament fifth seed and ITF No. 511 Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan of India in the second round.

Earlier on, the 27-year-old Indian had overcame Brazilian challenger Augusto Laranja 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 in another first round match of the US$10,000 Futures event of the professional men’s circuit.

Ranjeet proved too hot for Assri to handle as the former was a very experienced player on the circuit, having registered 152 wins against 123 losses throughout his playing career.

“This is a very good achievement for Assri who did not collect any rankings points from the three Vietnam Men’s Futures events he participated last year…he is doing well and I am happy with his performance,” said Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) president Dato Patrick Liew said yesterday.

“I strongly believe that this will inspire him to win more ranking points in more tournaments that he will be playing this year so that he can qualify for the US$15,000 and US$25,000 events next year,” he added.

On Assri’s second round defeat to Ranjeet, Liew said it was a good match and the result could have gone the other way if Assri had been able to draw 4-4 in the first set.

Liew, also Lawn Tennis Association of Malaysia (LTAM) vice president, said Assri was actually affected by diarrhea he suffered the night prior to the match.

“We have withdrawn him from the other two legs in India and together with his coach Doru Murariu will return to Florida, USA to continue his training,” said Liew.

Assri is expected to play in a few tournaments in the US and Europe to improve his pro rankings including playing in three legs of the coming Indonesian US$10,000 Men’s Futures to be held either in May or June.

Meanwhile, Liew was happy with the performance of national player Aslina Chua although the wildcard entry lost 0-6, 1-6 to Zhang Shuai of China in the first round of the BMW Malaysian Open on Wednesday.

“Even by getting to play against one of the world’s top 125 players and being the first Malaysian to play in the main draw of the Women’s Tour Association (WTA) event itself is already an historic achievement and a big honour for her,” he commented.

“Basically, we were not expecting her to win the match as she is still considered a junior player at 17…it is a very good experience in her tennis life as she has been able to play against the WTA No. 122 player,” he added.