The boys and girls champions (from left) Han, Reynolds, Lexie Stevens and Merel Hoedt with Liew (centre) and organising committee member and SLTA secretary Bernard Chin after the prize presentation on the main court yesterday. — Photo by TH Ting
KUCHING: Han Seon Yong of South Korea and Finn Reynolds of New Zealand combined well to lift the boys doubles crown at the 28th Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup (II) ITF Junior Circuit (Grade 3) tennis championship yesterday.
The second seeds took only 55 minutes to see off the challenge from the third seeded pair of Matthew Johnson (South Africa) and Ien Schouten (Netherlands) 6-0, 6-1 in the final played at Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) Tennis Centre.
Han and Reynolds will turn rivals for today’s boys singles final after defeating Yu Hua-Chen of Chinese Taipei 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 and Ien Schouten 6-3, 7-7(4) respectively.
In the girls singles semi-finals yesterday, fourth seed Park Sohyun of South Korea created a major upset when she sent tournament’s top seed Lee Yang of Chinese Taipei packing in straight sets of 6-1, 6-4.
Her final opponent will be Mihika Yadav of India who brushed aside unseeded Mana Kawamura of Japan 6-4, 6-0 in the other semi-final.
Meanwhile, Merel Hoedt and Lexie Stevie, who are both from Netherlands and playing as doubles partners for the first time, got their act right when they overcame the spirited combination of Lee Yang and Sina Zuger (Switzerland) 6-3, 5-7, 10-1 in one hour and 50 minutes.
SLTA president Dato Patrick Liew gave away the prizes to the finalists of the boys and girls doubles.