Aussie girls show the way

TOP seeds Australia steamrolled Uzbekistan 3-0 in the World Junior Tennis (WJT) Girls Championship Asia/Oceania Final Qualifying Round at the Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) Centre in Kuching on May 8 The Aussies, top finishers in the Asia/Oceania zone in the previous WJT in Prostejov, Czech Republic last year, won their opening point through Kimberly Birrell who beat Valeriya Kolegova 6-2, 6-4, before Sara Tomic outplayed Valeriya Popova 6-2, 6-1. Sara and Priscilla Hon completed Australia's Group A tie triumph when they overcame Valeriya and Milisa Bekirova 6-1, 6-1. In Group B, second seeds China trounced Indonesia 3-0, their first point coming courtesy of Ren Jia-Qi who beat Arrum Damarsari, after which Cao Si-Qi got their second, blanking Rifanty Dwi Kahfiani 6-0, 6-0. Si-Qi then partnered Li Yue-Nu to edge Arrum-Rifanty Dwi 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 in the doubles. Japan, the third seeds, however, were made to sweat by Kazakhstan before gaining their first win in the tournament with a 2-1 victory in a Group C tie, while fourth-seeded India had an easy 3-0 win over Singapore in Group D. Hosts Malaysia fell 2-1 to Thailand in another Group C tie, with the first two matches ending in easy wins for the Thai girls. Manita Bootsaramvisit beat Nurin Nabilah Roslan 6-1, 6-0, while Napharat Sawangkaew routed Yus Syazlin Nabila Yusri 6-0, 6-0. Nurin and Yus Syazlin salvaged some pride for Malaysia when they beat Manita and Wijitbanjong Pakkaro 5-7, 6-3, 6-3. In other results yesterday, South Korea beat Hong Kong 3-0 in Group D, Taiwan slammed Sri Lanka 3-0 in Group B and New Zealand beat the Philippines 3-0 in Group A. In today's matches, Australia play the Philippines, China face Sri Lanka, Japan take on Malaysia, while India will be square off with Hong Kong. Also, Indonesia meet Taiwan, Uzbekistan play New Zealand, Kazakhstan face Thailand and Singapore meet Korea. The top four finishers proceed to play in the WJT finals, also to be played in Prostejov, on Aug 13-18.