ITF UNDER 18 TOURNAMENT AT SLTA Jeffrey Hsu and Bo Yui Huang topple top seeded compatriots
Punctuating their forceful winners with equally powerful and triumphant yells, the Chinese Taipei doubles pair of Jeffrey Hsu and Bo Yui Huang toppled their top seeded compatriots Ho Jun Lee and Ching-Hao Miaou with a surge of aggression, emerging 75, 6-6 (8-6) victors in the doubles’ finals of the ITF Under 18 tournament’s first week, hosted at the SLTA courts yesterday.
Hsu was the lead aggressor from the two, punishing even the slightest lapse in judgment with frightening venom from the baseline and the middle of the court. Huang in turn jumped on everything at the net, whether faulty or flawless, to complement his partner’s energetic play.
The duo’s teamwork was too much for Lee and Miaou to cope with during the first set, and there was little they could do to avoid slipping down a break and conceding the opening stanza. Games vanished at a frantic pace during the second set, but Lee and Miaou were now better negotiating their opponents’ serves and keeping things even.
Lee and Miaou were offered a glimmer of hope when they broke for a 4-3 lead, but it was swiftly extinguished the very next game to tow proceedings into a tiebreaker.
Once again, Lee and Miaou seemed to gain the upper hand when they grabbed the first three points of the deciding shootout but the tide then quickly swung against them. A flicker later, Hsu and Huang had reeled off consecutive winners to even things up. The resurgent pair then punched down on the pedal at match point on 7-6 to speed past the finish tape in pole position.
The girls’ finals saw a similar upset although the match was not nearly as closely-contested. The Filipino team of Khim Iglupas and Roxanne May Resma dismembered the limp and lost pair of Great Britain’s Holly Hutchinson and Singapore’s Rai Vaidya 64, 6-1.
Hutchinson and Vaidya started well, prising open a 3-1 lead and positioning themselves perfectly for a dash through the opening set. But from there the wheels fell off all their aspirations and it was Iglupas and Resma who now looked poised for a first set rout.
The turnaround was inexplicable to the point of being bizarre. While the duo from the Philippines was now playing like possessed pit bulls, Hutchinson and Vaidya were like two befuddled poodles. Appearing flustered and bemused after they conceded a break to go down 5-3, the Brit and Singaporean burst into fits of laughter when they lost the opening set 6-4.
The giggles continued into the second set, oftentimes following horribly measured and directed shots. On one occasion, a wild swipe from mid-court by Rai almost sailed into the opposite court. Not surprisingly they surrendered breaks at will and finally, without even a trace of grit, coughed up the final set 6-1.