KUCHING: All top eight seeded teams besides sixth seed Uzbekistan won their day two ties in the group stages of ITF World Tennis Junior Team Competition U14 (Boys) Asia/Oceania Final Qualifying held at Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) Centre from March 27 to April 1.
First seeded South Korea wasted little time to finish off Kyrgyzstan by 3-0 before 1pm on Tuesday.
Kim Dong Min and Cho Min Hyuk destroyed their respective opponents Roman Kim and David Mogilevskii with two sets of 6-0, 6-0 and 6-2, 6-2 in their respective singles’ matches.
After sealing the victory, Kim Dong Min paired up with his partner Kim Won Min in doubles’ match and took out Ridvan Loianov and David Mogilevskii 6-3, 6-0.
In another Group A tie, Thailand pulled off an upset by taking down sixth seed Uzbekistan by 3-0 and blew the qualifications for the top eight playoffs wide open.
The Thais are now tied with Uzbekistan with one win and one loss apiece, with South Korea topping the group with two wins after two ties have played.
Meanwhile, in Group B, third seed Japan and eighth seed Pakistan both won their respective second group matches by 2-1 against Indonesia and Iran.
Both sides have qualified for the top eight playoffs and will be facing each other on Wednesday to decide the group winner while Iran and Indonesia will be dropping down to play in the 9th to 16th places playoffs.
Chinese Taipei could not continue the momentum they had on Monday after pulling off an upset against fifth seed India by succumbing to fourth seed Hong Kong 1-2 in Group C action.
Mao Kuan Huai first took the lead for Chinese Taipei by securing a 6-4, 6-2 victory in the first singles’ match against Choi Fu Wang.
However, Hong Kong managed to mount a comeback in the following two matches when Tam Sin Hang first secured the second singles’ match victory against Chen Hung Jui and later secured the important victory with his partner against Chen and Mao in the doubles’ match.
After losing their opening tie against Chinese Taipei on Monday, fifth seed India restored some pride by taking down New Zealand 2-1 to keep their hopes of qualifying into the top eight playoffs alive.
India and now tied with Chinese Taipei with one win and one loss while Hong Kong is topping Group C with two wins from two.
Meanwhile in Group D, second seed Australia and seventh seed Kazakhstan won their respective ties with no surprise by 3-0 and 2-1 against Jordan and Singapore respectively.
Both nations will face against each other to decide the Group D winner on Wednesday after winning two games out of two while Jordan and Singapore will be playing in the 9th to 16th places playoffs after losing both of their matches in the first two days.
