Christian gaining momentum
TEENAGER Christian Didier Chin has enjoyed a positive start to his career on the senior pro tennis circuit.
The Sabahan produced some good results in three back-toback US$15,000 (RM62,627) ITF futures tournaments in Singapore this month.
Although he fell in the second round of singles qualifiers in the first leg (May 28-June 1), the 18year-old exceeded all expectations in the doubles, winning the tournament with his Singapore partner Ng Hao Yuan.
Luck, however, was not on Christian’s side in the second leg (June 4-9).
He received a wildcard entry into the singles main draw, but lost to the highly-experienced Dayne Kelly of Australia in the opening round. Kelly, 28, went on to win the tournament.
Christian-Hao Yuan were then edged 10-7 in the super tiebreak by Alex Adamson (Usa)-Harry Bourchier (Aus) in the doubles quarter-finals.
Christian declined a wildcard into the main draw for the third leg (June 11-16) as he wanted to get more game time under his belt.
As such, he opted to play in the qualifiers, which he cleared successfully.
He, however, went down tamely to Scotland’s highly-promising Aidan McHugh in the quarter-finals of the main draw.
McHugh, who had earlier lost to Kelly in the second-leg final, went on to win the tournament.
Christian-Hao Yuan’s doubles campaign also came to an end at the quarter-final stage when they lost to Australians Aaron Addison-Cameron Green.
Christian, who took some time off after the end of his final junior season to build his physical strength and switch to a singlehanded backhand, believes there is still much room for improvement.
“Overall, I’m pretty happy to get to the (singles) quarter-finals in what was only my third tournament on the pro circuit,” said Christian.
“(In the third leg) I managed to beat the eighth seed (Shahin Khaledan), who is also one of the top-ranked players in Iran, in the round of 16.
“In the quarter-finals, I lost to McHugh, who is the same age as me but is physically much stronger. He reached two finals in Singapore.”
Christian’s serve-and-volley game has seen him make a good transition to the senior tour in the doubles but his singles game will take time to mature, especially after making the switch to a single-handed backhand.
He will now take a break from the pro circuit for Davis Cup duty with Malaysia, who will compete alongside Iran, Kuwait, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria and Vietnam in Group III at the Singapore Sports Hub from June 2629.