CHALLENGER: Barbora Stefkova with Sylva at SLTA Tennis Centre yesterday.
KUCHING: Barbora Stefkova is looking to do well in the main draw of the girls competition at the 21st Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup (I) ITF Junior Circuit (Grade 1) that commences at Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association Tennis Centre here tomorrow.
She is hoping to win again in Kuching after clinching the girl’s singles crown in last year’s tournament.
“It will be hard for me because this is a Grade 1 event where the top ITF ranked players will be competing but I will try my best,” Barbora said after having a practice round at the SLTA courts yesterday.
The Czech challenger said she has been practising very hard for this tournament and she is also hoping to get used to the hot weather here.
She lost in the third round of the Thailand ITF Junior Circuit Grade 1 event in Bangkok last week. Barbora, who hails from Prostejov, is accompanied by her mother cum coach Sylva Stefkova.
Meanwhile, three matches were played in the girl’s singles qualifying yesterday.
Malaysia’s Choo Lyn Luen, who is from Sarawak, booked her ticket to the main draw after disposing of Indonesia’s Tami Grends 7-6(3), 6-2.
Following Choo into tomorrow’s main draw competition are Japanese Ayano Sonoda, the eighth seed who ousted fifth seed from India Parminder Kaur 6-3, 7-6(0) while Filipino lass Maika Jae, seeded fourth, chalked up a 6-3, 7-5 win over her opponent from Thailand Bunyawi Thamchaiwat.
The top three seeds Miki Kobayashi of Japan, Arina Folts of Uzbekistan and Efriliya Herlina of Indonesia all advanced to the main draw as there were only 12 contestants for the qualifying matches.
In the boy’s singles qualifying, two Malaysians Alvin Teng Wee Jie and Muhamad Faris Iqmal Kamaruddin progressed to the second round.
Alvin saw off the challenge from compatriot Aliff Nasir 6-2, 6-4 to meet third seed Ryotaro Matsumura of Japan in today’s final round while Faris struggled to beat another Malaysian Rohizat Achop Borhan Janang 7-6(6), 7-5.
Faris now faces second seed Gian Issa from Surinam in the final round.
Others who qualified for the main draw were top seed Toshiki Matsuya of Japan who thumped Malaysia’s Tay Chun Keat 6-1, 6-0 and fourth seed Alexander Klintcharov from New Zealand who beat Chinese Taipei’s Lin Wei-De 6-2, 6-4.
Seventh seed Jake Dalaney of Australian sent fifth seed from Chinese Taipei Yu Shao-Yu packing 6-3, 6-1 while eighth seed Ronan Joncour upset sixth seed Yvo Panak of Czech Republic 7-6(4), 6-2 to book his place in the main draw.