Taiwanese netters dispute ladies crown

Top seed Chan Yung Jan and second pick Hsu Weh-Hsin downed their respective foes yesterday to set up an all-Taiwanese final in the girls’ division of the 15th Mitsubishi Lancer International Junior Tennis Championships at the Rizal Tennis Courts.

Leaning on her foot speed and strong backhand, the world No. 7 Chan continued her dominating ways by smashing 14th seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, 6-0, 6-3, while Hsu survived another three-setter against No. 12 Septi Monde of Indonesia, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.

It will be the fourth time that Chan and Hsu, ranked 21st in the world, will meet – the former winning the first three.

"It feels good to have an all-Taiwanese final because it shows Chinese Taipei tennis is on the rise right now," said the 14-year-old Chan, who was so dominating that she never dropped a set while conceding only 11 points.

"She (Hsu) has a good forehand but I’ll try to beat her with my speed and strong backhand," she added.

Hsu, who won a Group 1 event in Malaysia and a Group 2 meet in Indonesia, for her part, said she will try her best to avenge her earlier losses to Chan.

"She’s a very good player but I can beat her if I play well," said the 15-year-old Hsu. "But I’m nervous because she’s quicker and younger than me."

The seeds in the boys’ section, on the other hand, kept on falling as the highest remaining seed, fourth pick William Ward of New Zealand, was shown the door by Great Britain’s Tom Rushby.

Unleasing his power game, the ninth seed Rushby had a surprisingly easy time in eliminating Ward with a 6-1, 6-2 victory, a result that booked him a spot in today’s finals against No. 7 Tushar Liberhan of India.

Liberhan, India’s No. 2 juniors netter next to world No. 5 Karan Rastogi, overcame a hard-hitting 11th seed Jamie Murray of Great Britain, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3, to foil an all-British boys finals.

The world No. 4, however, will have his hands full against Rushby, whose long list of seeded victims include top seed Rastogi, eighth pick Lachlan Ferguson of Australia and, just now, Ward.

"I’m fit, I’m fast and I’ve been playing pretty well," said the 17-year-old Rushby, a quarterfinalist in last year’s edition of this tournament sponsored by Mitsubishi Lancer.

"He (Liberhan) has his own game and I just have to be prepared. My only advantage is I have more confidence because I beat the top seed," he said.

Fifth seed Antal van der Duim and Coen van Kuelen of the Netherlands trounced Weerapat Doalmaiklee and Sunnu Wahya Trijati of Indonesia, 6-1, 6-3, to clinch the first berth in the boys’ doubles final.

The Dutch pair faces the winner between No. 3 Ferguson and Joel Kerley of Australia and second pick Remko de Rijke of the Netherlands and Jamie Murray of Great Britain, who were playing each other at presstime.

This event is made possible by the Philippine Tennis Association, Philippine Sports Commission, Department of Tourism, Traders Hotel, Wilson Balls, Summit Natural Drinking Water and Drewberry Cookies.