KUCHING: Chung Hyeon and Kim Dukyoung of South Korea put up a spirited display against top seeds Borna Coric (Croatia) and Nikola Milojevic (Serbia) in the boys doubles final to lift the title at the 19th Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup (I) ITF Junior Tennis Championship (Grade 1) late yesterday.
The unseeded Koreans lost the first set 4-6 but came back strongly to clinch the second set 6-4. In the decider that was played on super tie-break, Kim-Chung won 10-7.
Earlier in the semi-finals, they also laboured for a three-set 7-6(8), 4-6, 10-4 win over sixth seeds Jannis Kahlke (Germany) and Lukas Mugevicius (Lithuania).
While it was a close fight for the boys doubles crown, it was a different story in the girls doubles where the semi-final winners Barbora Krejcikova (Czechslavakia) and Abbie Myers (Australia) who beat third seeds Nao Hibino and Ayaka Okuno of Japan 6-3, 6-7(3) 10-8, did not have to sweat for another match to lift the title.
This was because the winners of the other semi-final Kanami Tsuji and Anna Tyulpa (Russia), who had a walkover win against top seeds Elizaveta Kulichkova (Russia) and Carol Zhao (Canada), also conceded a walkover to Barbora/Abbie.
In the singles competition, fifth seed Carol Zhao continued her impressive form when she sent second seed Barbora Krejcikova of Czechslavakia packing in three sets in the semi-finals yesterday.
The Canadian challenger reached her second consecutive final here and will battle top seed Elizaveta Kulichkova of Russia for the title today.
Zhao won the first set 7-6(2) but lost some concentration to lose 5-7 in the second. She came back strongly to win the decider 6-2 to clinch the game.
In the other semi-final, Elizaveta, ITF No. 11 player, had an easier game against Hsu Ching-Wen of Taiwan, winning 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.
The boys singles final will see top seed Nikola Milojevic of Serbia pitched against ninth seed Kim Jae Hwan from South Korea for the crown.
Milojevic got past third seed Borna Coric of Croatia 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 in the last four.
Kim has also been impressive in this tournament, having scalped seventh seed Moos Sporken of Netherlands in round three and yesterday he claimed the biggest scalp by upstaging second seed Pedja Krstin of Serbia 4-6, 7-6(7), 7-6(5) in the semi-final.- www.theborneopost.com
