Trainees of the National Tennis Academy posing with SLTA president Dato Patrick Liew (fifth right) and Pietersz (fourth right) at the end of the competition.
KUCHING: Christian Didier Chin of Malaysia picked up his fourth title of the year when he overcame Yokota Hiromu of Japan in the boys singles final at the 10th ATF Asian 14 and Under Series tennis tournament yesterday.
Playing in his final year of the series, the 14-year-old lad from Kota Kinabalu, who is ranked ATF No. 6, bounced back from one set down 5-7 to win 6-0, 6-2.
Earlier this year, Chin has won in the Penang ATF Asian 14 and Under Series, Thailand ITF League 1 and League 2 competitions.
He has also won two doubles titles and finished twice as runners-up before coming to compete in Kuching.
It was a mixed feelings for the National Tennis Academy trainee as he was gunning for a double success here.
“I am very happy to have won today but at the same time I feel sad for losing the boys doubles final to Yokota and Keisuke Saito yesterday,” he said after the match.
Last year, Chin was a semi-finalist in the boys singles of the ATF Asian 14 and Under Series here.
On his game yesterday, Chin said: “I lost the first set but I played more aggressively in the second set which I won. That gave me the confidence and feeling that I can win the match,” he said.
He added that his game has also improved greatly under the tutelage of national junior coach Eric Pietersz who is from the Netherlands.
Chin joined the National Tennis Academy in March this year and he is based in Kuala Lumpur since then.
His next assignments are the Sabah ATF Asian 14 and Under Series that begun yesterday, the Sarawak Chief Minister Cup (II) ITF World Junior Circuit (Grade 3) here next week, the Brunei ITF, SEA Games in Singapore, the two back-to-back ITF events in Singapore, Indonesia ITF and Thailand ATF Asian 14 and Under Series.
Meanwhile, the ATF No. 22 player from Malaysia Koay Hao Ci finished third in the week-long competition after he beat Philippines’ Michael Francis Eala 6-4, 6-3 in the play-off.
In fifth place was another Malaysian Satveer Singh Seth who beat Japanese challenger Keisuke Saito 6-4, 6-3 while Hamad Naif from Yemen finished in seventh spot after beating Malaysia’s Darrshan Suresh 6-2, 7-5.