KUCHING: There were two upsets out of the four bouts in the top eight playoff of the ITF World Tennis Junior Team Competition U14 (Girls) Asia/Oceania Final Qualifying held at the Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) Centre on Thursday.
First seed Australia were the only top seeded team that did not fall in the quarter finals after they secured themselves a 2-0 victory over seventh seed Hong Kong.
Sara Nikolic first defeated Charlotte Lam Sum Yuet by 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 after a gruelling 2 hours and 44 minutes match, with Renee Alame later securing the victory by destroying Hebe Leung Yui Hei with two sets of 6-0 in their respective singles’ actions.
The Australians will welcome the challenge of the sixth seeded South Korea in the semi-final, who continued their momentum after causing an upset against third seeded Thailand on Wednesday, by defeating eighth seeded Uzbekistan 3-0 in the quarter final.
Oh Ji-Yun first took out Emily Kim by 6-2, 6-0 in the first singles’ match, with Choo Ye-Sung later showing no mercy against Keira Kim by winning 6-1, 6-0.
In the doubles’ match, Choo and her compatriot Hong Ye-Ri demolished the Uzbek Kim sisters with 6-2, 6-0.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s neighbouring country, fourth seeded Japan will join them in the semi-final after they caused a minor upset by taking down third seeded Thailand by 2-0.
Miku Kitaoka first defeated JinnipaTrachoovanich by 6-4, 6-1 before Hikari Yamamoto later dispatched Natrada Sakulvongtana with ease by 6-0, 6-2.
This win has also ensured that South Korea will have the chance to move up the ranking table, after finishing sixth last year while Thailand, who lost two days in a row to lower seeded teams, will be finding themselves dropping down to play for fifth to eighth place.
Japan will be facing against fifth seeded Kazakhstan in the semi-final on Friday, after the Kazakhs themselves pulled off an upset by defeating second seeded India in the last eight bout.
In the first singles’ match, Eva Korysheva took out Harithashree Venkatesh with two sets of 6-1 before seeing her compatriot Yerkezhan Zhanatayeva defeating Maaya Rejeshwaran Revathi by 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-2 after three gruelling sets.
All top four teams will be vying to secure a top three finish in order to qualify for the grand finale which will be staged in August in Czech Republic, while the four teams that lost in the quarter finals will be playing for fifth to eighth places in order to secure a better ranking for themselves in next year’s tournament.
Hong Kong will face Uzbekistan in the opening round of fifth to eighth place playoff while Thailand will be playing against India, with both teams trying to avoid losing and falling further down the ranking table.
