KUCHING: Chinese challenger Shao Yijia sailed into the semi-finals of the 22nd Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup ITF Junior Tennis Championship girls’ singles competition at SLTA Tennis Centre yesterday.
The ITF ranked No. 199 player made short work of Indonesia’s Deria Nur Haliza 6-2, 6-2 to set up the clash with sixth seed Druthi Tatachar Venugopal from India who sent fourth seed Spackman Claire Yee Koon Choi of Hong Kong packing in straight sets of 6-3, 6-0.
Ninth seed Arina Folts of Uzbekistan continued with her winning streak and disposed of 13th seed Ng Kwan Yau of Hong Kong 6-3, 6-2 and will next meet either top seed Dabin Kim of South Korea or unseeded Julie Noe from Denmark.
Dabin Kim, ITF No. 112 advanced into the quarterfinals yesterday after she beat Chen Chaoyi, the 14th seed from China, 6-3, 6-3.
Kim has also earned a place in the girls doubles semi-finals after partnering Thailand’s Tamachan Momkoonthod to a 6-7(2), 6-3 (10-7) victory over Indian pair of Vasanti Shinde and Druthi Tatachar Venugopal in the quarterfinals.
Other pairs who advanced to the last four were Rheeya Doshi (India)/Tami Grende (Indonesia) who beat Arina Folts (Uzbekistan)/Claudia Williams (New Zealand) 7-5, 4-6 (10-7), Ma Yi-Chi (Taipei)/Spackman Claire Yee Koon Choi (Hong Kong) who beat Kamilla Bolatova (Kazakhstan)/Chutima Mijaroen (Thailand) 6-1, 6-1 and second seeds Miki Kobayashi (Japan)/Shao Yijia (China) who defeated Alyssa Boey (Malaysia)/Deria Nur Haliza (Indonesia) 6-3, 6-2.
The biggest casualty was in the boys’ singles third round yesterday when second seed Daniel Nolan of Australia, ITF No. 155 lost 6-7(8), 2-6 to unseeded Filip Mansson, from Sweden and ranked ITF No. 2097.
Mansson will now face sixth seed Lo Chien Hsun in the last eight after the Chinese Taipei player defeated 10th seed Patrik Niklas-Salminen of Finland 6-4, 6-3.
Tournament top seed and ITF No. 154, Yang Shao-Chi of Taipei also booked his quarterfinals berth with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Duan Jiaqi of China.
His next opponent is fifth seed Max Purcell of Australia who struggled to overcome Hong Kong’s Lam Siu Chen 6-2, 6-7(7), 7-6(0).
The other quarterfinalists were 16th seed Brian Tran from Australia, 12th seed Tim Van Rijthoven of Netherlands, ninth seed Bjorn Thomson of Ireland and Arturs Lazdins of Latvia.
Meanwhile, the boys doubles semi-finals will see top seeded pairs in contention for the title.
Top seeds Daniel Nolan and Max Purcell of Australia, who defeated eight seeds Duan Jiaqi (China)/Brian Tran (Australia) 7-6(10), 4-6, (10-7) in the last eight, will play against Tim Van Rithoven (Netherlands)/Benjamin Hannestad (Denmark) for a place in the final.
Rithoven and Hannestad, the sixth seeds were 6-4, 6-3 winners over third seeds Arturs Lazdins (Latvia)/Bjorn Thomson (Ireland) in the quarterfinals.
The other semi-final clash will be between Lam Siu Chen (Hong Kong)/Lo Chien Hsun (Taipei) and Taipei pair of Lin Wei-De/Yang Shao-Chi, the second seeds after they defeated the Finnish pair of Patrik Niklas-Salminen and Eero Vasa 3-6, 7-6(5), (10-7) and the South African pair of Francois Kellermen and Okkie Kellermen 6-3, 7-6(3) respectively.