Top seeds prove their worth in Sabah Masters Junior Tour
KOTA KINABALU: Almost all the top seeded players justified their tags in the Sabah Masters Junior Tour Tennis Tournament which ended in Likas near here on Tuesday.
Pre-tournament favourites Luke Alfred Guansing, Edric Tan Jia Hong, Jashnavissri Uigneswaran, Serena Aniola David, Jonathan Joshua and Kyra Vamsikhrish emerged as the winners in their respective categories.
Top seeded Luke of Kota Kinabalu defeated Kevalraj Singh Kreer 6-1, 6-1 to lift the Boys’ Under-16 title while Ahmad Izzudin Sapri finished third.
Kenwyn Chang, however, upset the seeding in the Girl’s Under-16 where the Kota Kinabalu player edged early favourite Azlien Natasyah of Lahad Datu in a thrilling battle.
After losing the first 1-6, Chang upped her game to take the second set 6-2 before winning in the decider 10-4 to win the crown.
Nurul Afiqah of Kinabalu was third.
In the Under-14 category, Tan faced little trouble in his 6-0, 6-2 win over his Kota Kinabalu teammate Ethan McElhone. Third place Alan Irfan ensured the City team dominated the boys’ category.
In the girls’ final of the same age group, Jashnavissri was stretched to the limit before Kota beating Sabrina Trisha 3-6, 6-4 and 10-8.
The Boys’ Under-12 final saw Keagan Keith Jonathan of Tawau deny the Kota Kinabalu squad the title after his 6-2, 6-4 win over top seed Mohd Radhie Mohd Nor.
The semi-finalists in the category were Mohd Afiq Syahmi and Iden McElhopne, both from Kota Kinabalu.
The Girls’ Under-12 title went as expected to Serena who beat fellow Kota Kinabalu player Sabrena Eniola 6-4, 6-3 in the final.
In the youngest age group competition for under10 players, Jonathan of Sandakan registered a 4-0, 4-1 win over Kota Kinabalu’s Rafiel Imann Shamsuddin.
The semi-finalists were Kota Kinabalu’s Muhd Afif Danish and Samuel Guansing.
Kyra, on the other hand, clinched the girls’ title with a 4-2, 4-1 final win over Kota Kinabalu teammate Eliora Hii while Miza Rasyidah Zakirah of Keningau was third.
Forty-three players from all around the state took part in the tournament.
Sabah Tennis Association (STA) president Johnson Koh hailed the tournament a success.
“The year-end tournament for the Sabah Junior Masters ended yesterday on a good note with the better players winning various titles in the respective categories,” he said in a statement to the press yesterday.