Young Christian finds positives in failure

Didier Chin’s campaign at the Asia-Oceania Closed Junior Championships may have ended in the third round in Seogwipo, South Korea on Thursday but the youngster believes he has gained from the outing.

The Sabahan came close to upsetting tournament favourite Keisuke Saitoh (Japan) but a knee injury saw him falling short in the final set.

Keisuke won the match 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals of the ITF grade B1 competition.

An injury to partner Sergey Fomin also hampered Christian’s hopes in doubles as the duo went down to Tsai Chang Lin (Taiwan)-Zheng Baoluo (China) 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 10-7 in the second round.

“Of course, everyone wants to finish the year well, for me it is important to take a lot of positives from this tournament although I lost,” said the 18-yearold.

“I played amazing tennis but in reality I’ve learnt that you don’t necessarily have to do so but instead just do enough to win a match.

“We were favourites to win in doubles but my partner had an injury and was cramping. We still played but lost.

“I was better than Keisuke when we were in the Under-14 category but he recently won the Osaka Mayor’s Cup, which is a Grade A event similar to a (Junior) grand slam.

“I managed to win the first set against him here (in singles), which nobody expected, but injured my knee in the second set. The medical (staff) advised me to stop playing but I went on, I felt that I needed to fight.

“My knee is okay now.” Christian, who will make the step up to the senior tour next year, will play his final junior tournament at the Tep Khunnah Memorial Cup (ITF Grade 5) in Cambodia on Dec 3-8.