Darrshan flies M’sian flag alone in CM Cup singles third round
KUCHING: Darrshan Suresh became the sole Malaysian survivor in the boys singles third round after compatriot Takeshi Koey Jian Keong exited in the second round of the 32nd Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup ( II) ITF Junior Circuit ( Grade 3) tennis championship at SLTA Tennis Centre yesterday.
The tournament third seed Darrshan, who is ITF No. 414, overcame his Danish challenger Oskar Bostrom Poulsen 6-1, 1- 6, 6-3 to set up a third round match with Chinese Taipei’s Chang Tzu Li.
Koey on the other hand was no match for Erik Eliasson, losing 0- 6, 1- 6 to the Swede.
The top two seeds were safely through the next round, with top seed Eric Vanshelboim of Ukraine dumping Allen Botic of Sweden 7- 6 ( 2), 6 - 0 and will next play against 14th seed Casey Hooley, who disposed of Chinese Taipei’s Wang Kai-I 6-2, 6-1.
Second seed Lancelot Carnello meanwhile defeated Australian Edward Vo in straight sets 6- 4, 6- 4.
Odeda Muhammad Arazza of Indonesia was the biggest seeded casualty as the ITF No. 455 and tournament fourth seed fell 3- 6, 64,3- 6 to Cheng Wei Chen of Chinese Taipei, who is ITF 1,265 ranked player.
Meanwhile, 10th seed Witold Konopko of Poland retired when trailing Shuannon Tricerri of Australia 6-1.
However, Witold is sti l l in contention for the boys doubles title as he and Jose Antonio Tria of the Philippines advanced to the last eight after defeating Varun Banati of India and Matthias Banff Wong of Singapore 6- 3, 6-2 in the second round.
Other pairs in the quarterfinals are top seeds Lancelot CarnelloEric Vanshelboim, third seeds Carl Emil Overbeck-Rikard Raad, Takeshi Koey and Guntinun Sootinun-Opart, fourth seeds Casy Hoole- Cooper White and seventh seeds Chiu Ming- Chieh and Zhou Xian Yao.
In the girls singles second round, Malaysians Tan Lin Xin and Suhana Sofia Mohd Adam Das were shown the exit when they lost 2- 6, 2- 6 to 16th seed Zhao Xichen of China and second seed Shivani Amineni of India 7- 5, 4- 6, 3- 6 respectively.
However, Lin Xin had a bit of luck in the girls doubles with her partner from India’s Reshima V Challlarapu as they became the first pair to book the quarterfinals ticket after they were given a walkover by eighth seeds Chiana Di Tommaso ( Australia) and Evelina Kontarevo (Russia).
Tournament’s top seed Priska Madelyn Nugroho, a regular campaigner in Kuching, sailed into the third round with a 6-2,6- 0 win over Russia’s Evelina Kontareva while third seed Zhao Cong Ying defeated Nadya Aulia 6-2, 6- 0.
The doubles matches were ongoing as at press time (6pm).