S.Korea, India face off in top-seed clash
South Korea lived up to their top seeds billing by checking into the semifinals of the World Junior Team Competition (WJTC) Boys U14 Asia-Oceania Final Qualifying at the Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) tennis centre yesterday.
They beat eighth seeds Chinese Taipei 2-0 to set up a semifinal clash with second seeds India who also beat third seeds Australia 2-0.
In the first singles, Jang Junseo eased past Tsai Bing-Huan 6-1, 6-0 while his teammate Kim Dongjae had no problem in beating Lin Yu-Min 6-2, 6-3 in the second singles.
The tie between India and Australia saw Tavish Pahwa taming Lucas Han 6-4, 6-4 and Hruthik Katakam defeated Taiki Takizawa 6-4, 6-0 in the second singles.
South Korea and India are joined by Thailand who scored a 2-0 win over New Zealand.
Tri Srisen delivered the first point for the Thais when he beat Milburn Nao 7-5 (5) 6-1 in the first singles while Dharma Pantaratorn followed up with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Alvin Na.
Pakistan’s joy in making the quarterfinals after edging Uzbekistan 2-1 in the final group match was short-lived when they fell 0-2 to seventh seeds Japan in the quarterfinals.
Japan’s points were delivered by Shintaro Ogaki who beat Muhammad Hamza Ali Rizwan 6-2, 6-0 and Takahro Kawaguchi who beat Abubakar Talha 6-3, 60.
They will face Thailand in today’s semifinals.
Earlier in the group matches, South Korea had booked their last eight ticket after they blanked fifth seeds Hong Kong 30 and they were joined by Japan who upstaged second seeds India 2-0, Australia who beat sixth seeds Kazakhstan 2-0, Thailand who beat eighth seeds Chinese Taipei 2-0, China who beat Singapore 2-0 and New Zealand who beat Indonesia 2-0.