M’sian girls falter as S’pore surge at ATF 14&U
KUCHING: Catherine Eva Liew became the tournament’s biggest casualty on the second day of the 15th ATF 14&U Series tennis championship at the Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) Tennis Centre yesterday.
The top seeded Malaysian and ATF No 81, who received byes in the first and second rounds, was dumped by Hong Kong challenger Chloe Wong Ying Chi in straight sets of 6-2, 6-2 in the girls singles quarterfinals.
Chloe will face in-form Jane Sze in an all-Hong Kong semifinal after the latter continued with her giant-killing acts to dispose of the fifth seed from Malaysia Eliora Hii also in straight sets of 6-1, 6-1.
Ngo Chung Thien Lam of Vietnam also marched into the last four after beating Malaysia’s Siti Umairah Mohamad Arif 6-1, 7-5.
Her opponent in today’s other semi-final is second seeded Honey Jumani Gaurav of India who was simply a class above Malaysia’s Kyra Lee Han, blanking her 6-0, 6-0.
In the girls doubles competition, Ngo Chung also made good progress when she partnered Nutthida Tanwattanakul of Thailand to edge the Malaysian pair of Eliora Hii and Catherine Eva Liew 2-6, 6-4, 10-8.
Their opponents in the final are Jane Sze and Chloe Wong from Hong Kong who secured their final berth after defeating Jana Jelena Nicole Diaz (the Philippines) and Mariane Faith Tan Xin Hui (Singapore) 6-1, 6-2 in the other semifinal.
Meanwhile, tournament third seed Amarr Shanmugamurthy is the only Malaysian left in the boys singles competition which was dominated by Singaporeans who secured five out of the eight slots in the quarterfinals, with the other two spots going to players from Hong Kong.
Amarr entered the last eight after he disposed of Louis La Planeta from Cambodia 6-1, 63 and he next faces Asher Yuel Ong of Singapore after the latter had a torrid time to pip fellow Singaporean Caden Fangiono 76(9), 7-6(6).
Other Singaporeans who earned their last eight spots were Luke Ho Jie Xi who beat compatriot Ethan Chan Jun Hui 6-4, 7-5, Phay Kai Chuen who ousted Hong Kong’s Donavan Yim Wan Him 6-0, 6-3, Ethan Chiang Xing Jie who upstaged Malaysian eighth seed Gareth Lim Hao Zhe 6-1, 7-5 while second seeded Zachary Sng beat Carison Fung Chuen Hei 6-2, 7-5.
Tournament top seed Andreas Foong from Hong Kong advanced to the next round after defeating Singaporean Simon Tremolieres 6-2, 6-2 and he is joined by Makson Chan Kwok Ting who outplayed Joshua Chung of the US 6-1, 6-0.
Andreas stayed in contention for the boys doubles title after he and partner Amarr fought hard for a 6-4, 4-6, 11-9 win over Makson Chan-Carison Fung (Hong Kong) in the quarterfinals.
The duo, ranked as tournament top seeds, will next play Brandon Wong-Donovan Yim in the last four.
Playing in the other allSingaporean semifinal are unseeded Ethan Chan-Phay Kai Chuen and second seeds Dylan Lim-Zachary Sng.