Keningau girls make surprise entry into tennis final
KOTA KINABALU: Keningau’s girls have upset the seedings to advance into the Team final of the VIII Sabah Games (SAGA) tennis competition.
Defending champions Kota Kinabalu team are also through to the title match, but it was Keningau who turned heads in the tennis competition.
After topping the roundrobin group matches which also included Kota Kinabalu, Keningau did not look back and beat Lahad Datu 2-1 in the semifinals played at the Sandakan Golf Club yesterday.
Keningau’s Callis Fung delivered the first point after beating Jasnita Zainal in the first single 6-0, 1-6 and 10-0 in the super tie break.
Callis Fung and Serena Taherin all but secured Keningau the final berth by beating Fazilawati and Nur Fadila 6-1, 6-0 in the doubles event.
In the second singles, Keningau’s Sabrina Trisha retired at 4-3 to conserve her energy for the final, thus the one point for Lahad Datu.
In the other semi-finals, Kota Kinabalu won in what looked to be a re-match of the 2015 finals with a 3-0 outcome against Tawau.
Nurul Aziz beat Nur Syafitri 6-1, 6-3 and Chang Ken Wynn beat Nur Shahirah 6-1, 6-1 for the singles matches while in the doubles, the sisters pair Serena and Sabrina David beat Nur Farhana and Nur Aqila 6-2, 6-4.
That set up mouth-watering clash for the women’s Team event final where Keningau and Kota Kinabalu will be meeting for the second time in VIII SAGA.
Keningau have the upper hand over their rivals after having won 3-0 in the round robin match.
“The (women’s) final will see whether Kota Kinabalu can prevent Keningau from defeating them again,” said Sabah Tennis Association (STA) president Johnson Koh yesterday.
The Team event finals for both women and men, where Kota Kinabalu are also the defending gold medallists, will take place today.