KUCHING: Seeded teams won their respective opening ties in the group stages of ITF World Tennis Junior Team Competition U14 (Girls) Asia/Oceania Final Qualifying which was held at the Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) Centre from March 20 to 25.
First seeded Australia swept its Oceania neighbour New Zealand by 3-0.
Koharu Nishikawa started off by winning the first singles’ match of the tie against Yashwitha Reddy Thummala just a minute after an hour by 6-2, 6-0.
Her compatriot Renee Alame went up next and dominated Dallas King-Ehau by winning the second singles’ match with two sets of 6-0 and secured the tie for Australia in 46 minutes.
Sara Nikolic and Koharu Nishikawa completed the tie by defeating Dallas King-Ehau and Una Misic 6-0, 6-4 in a doubles match within 55 minutes.
In another Group A tie, fifth seed Kazakhstan took a 2-0 lead and basically secured the win of the tie against Chinese Taipei where their players had two gruelling matches.
Eva Korysheva took down Lin Yu Chen by 7-5, 6-0 after two hours of action under the scorching hot sun.
Yerkezhan Zhanatayeva was up next and took down Kao Zhi Han by 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 after 2 hours and 20 minutes.
The doubles match between Eva Korysheva – Sabina Shukratova and Hua Yi En – Lin Yu Chen will be rescheduled on Wednesday.
In Group B actions, third seed Thailand took down Nepal by 3-0 in dominant fashion.
TaritaHongsyok won the first singles’ match against Swastika Bista in 53 minutes with two sets of 6-0.
NatradaSakulvongtana beaten her opponent Shivali Gurung by two sets of 6-1 in singles’ action and continued the momentum in doubles match with her partner Jinnipa Trachoovanich by taking down Shivali Gurung and Samridhi Maharjan in 55 minutes with two sets of 6-0.
Sixth seeded South Korea also took out Iran with ease by 3-0 with Hong Ye-ri demolishing her opponent Alin MohammadianFard in 55 minutes with two sets of 6-0 in the first singles’ action.
Choo Ye-sung was up next and won against Hana Shabanpour by 6-1, 6-0 in 57 minutes.
Hong Ye-ri and Oh Ji-yun closed up the tie by beating Asal Farahbodniai and Hana Shabanpour in 65 minutes by 6-0, 6-3.
Meanwhile, in Group C, the hosts Malaysia could not cause an upset against fourth seed Japan with Daania Daniella Abd Hazli losing the first singles’ match by 1-6, 4-6, after a hard-fought 90 minutes rally against Miku Kitaoka.
Lynn Lim was outclassed by Hikari Yamamoto with two sets of 0-6 within 50 minutes.
Lim then lost the doubles’ match along with her partner Adani Raihan Muhammad Azhariagainst Kokona Ishii and Hikari Yamamoto in an hour.
Eighth seed Uzbekistan defeated Sri Lanka by 3-0 in another Group C tie where Emily Kim defeated her opponent GehansaLamappulage Don by 6-2, 6-1 in 70 minutes.
Keira Kim defeated Fernando Githmi Weweldeniyage in the second singles’ match by 6-0, 6-3 in 95 minutes.
ElnuraBoltaboeva and Emily Kim proceeded to win the doubles’ match against Venuli Jayasinghe and Gehansa Lamappulage Don by 6-3, 6-1 in 80 minutes.
In Group D actions, second seed India defeated our neighbouring country Singapore by 3-0.
Harithashree Venkatesh defeated Joy-Shania Lee with two sets of 6-1 in an hour and her compatriot Maaya Rejeshwaran Revathi followed her footsteps by beating Victoria Alekseykina by 6-1, 6-0 in 60 minutes.
Diya Ramesh and Harithashree Venkatesh secured the tie by beating Sophie Ashley Chua and Joy-Shania Lee with two sets of 6-2 in 71 minutes.
Seventh seed Hong Kong also took down Lebanon by 3-0 with Charlotte Lam Sum Yeut winning the first singles’ match against Kaya Chkayban by 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 after 125 minutes of gruelling action.
Her compatriot however had an easier second singles’ match where Hebe Leung Yui Hei defeated Carmen Maria Azar with two sets of 6-0 in 63 minutes.
She continued the momentum by pairing up with Sze Hiu Tung in defeating Carmen Maria Azar and Reina El Jessr in the doubles’ match by two sets of 6-0 in 89 minutes.
Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah was here at SLTA Centre earlier in the morning to officiate the opening ceremony where he greeted the teams.
