KUCHING: Djurabeck Karimov continued his winning run in the 24th Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup (II) ITF Junior Tennis Championship (Grade 3) when he beat Sebastien Butler in the boys singles last 16 match at SLTA tennis centre yesterday.
The tournament’s top seed from Uzbekistan, who is ITF No. 111, beat the ITF No. 479 player from Great Britain Sebastien Butler in straight sets of 6-2, 6-4.
His next opponent in the last eight will be Thailand’s Nawakam Khunjan after the 12th seed upstaged the fifth seed Alexei Prokopchuk of Ukraine 6-1, 6-2 in the other match.
The biggest upset of the day was sprung by 13th seed Anthony Susanto of Indonesia who ousted third seed Garvit Batra of India 1-6, 6-4, 6-1.
He will face South African challenger Okkie Kellerman in the quarterfinals after the eighth seed laboured for a 7-5, 5-7, 6-2 win over Meng Cing-Yang of Chinese Taipei.
Another higher ranked player Saida’lo Saidkarimov, the sixth seed, was also sent packing 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-2 by the ninth seed Tiago Cacao of Portugal.
He now faces Danish hope August Holmgren in the last eight today after the latter disposed of Vietnam’s Artem Vu 6-4, 6-3.
Holmgren created an upset on Wednesday when he showed second seed Francois Kellerman the exit with a score of 1-6, 6-1, 6-3.
The other two quarterfinal spots were filled by fourth seed Scott Jones of Australia who beat Yu Hua-Chen of Chinese Taipei 6-4, 6-2 and India’s Alexi Solanki who overcame Vorachon Rakpuangchon of Thailand 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.
There were no surprises in round three of the girls singles competition as the top seeds all made it to the quarterfinals after beating their opponents respectively.
Tessah Andrianjafitrimo, the top seed, faced little difficulty in beating 13th seed Chen Tzu-Hui of Chinese Taipei 6-2, 6-4 while second seed Vasanthi Shinde of India took three sets 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 to subdue her Thai opponent Yinglak Jittakoat.
Tessah next plays fifth seed Eden Richardson from Great Britain while Vasanthi is next up against Chinese Taipei’s Chen Pei Hsuan, the seventh seed who saw off the challenge from 12th seeded Komola Umarova of Uzbekistan 7-5, 6-1.
The third seed Gozal Anitdinova of Kazakhstan made light work of 14th seed Louise-Mare Botes of South Africa 6-0, 6-2 to set up a quarterfinal clash with the sixth seed from China Duzhima Dzuhima.
Joining her in the quarterfinals are fourth seed Mihika Yadav of India and Khim Iglupas of the Philippines.
In the boys doubles, only the third seeds – the South African twins Francois and Okkie Kellerman – have survived the tough going.
They were 6-4, 7-5 winners over eighth seeds Udayan Bhakar (India)-Sebastien Butler (Great Britain) and their semi-final opponents are fifth seeds from Thailand Nawakam Khunjan and Vorachon Rakpuangchon who beat the Chinese Taipei pair of Lee Ho Jun and Meng Cing-Yang 6-1, 6-3.
The top seeds Djurabeck Karimov (Uzbekistan)-Alexey Prokopchuk (Ukraine) lost in the second round on Wednesday while the second seeds Garvit Batra (India)-Scott Jones (Australia) were sent packing 3-6, 6-2 (14-16) by Chan Chak Yin (Hong Kong) and Yu Hua-Chen (Chinese Taipei) in the quarterfinals yesterday.
Sixth seeds from Indonesia Anthony Susanto and Henrawan Susanto did not lose any sweat for their semi-finals spot as they enjoyed a walkover from the fourth seeds Tiago Cacao (Portugal)-Saida’lo Saidkarimov (Uzbekistan).
In today’s girls doubles semi-finals, the top seeds Eden Richardson (Great Britain)-Vasanthi Shinde (India) will take on third seeds from China Duzhima Duzhima-Youmizhuoma Youmizhuoma.
The other semi-final will be between seventh seeds Sarvinoz Saidhujaeva-Komola Umarova of Uzbekistan and second seeds Gozal Anitdinova (Kazakshtan)-Khim Iglupas (Philippines).