Top seeds survive scare, march on in ITF Asia 14-U tilt

THE TOP SEEDS narrowly escaped defeat as Oh Chan Yeong of Korea and No. 2 Wu Tung Lin of Chinese Taipei repulsed their respective opponentrs in spite of opening set defeats in the International Tennis Federation’s Asia 14 and Under Development Championships–Division I at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center yesterday.

Oh outlasted 11th pick Meng Cing Yang of Chinese Taipei after the latter failed to endure the heat and retired in the third frame due to dehydration, 1-6, 6-3, 1-0. Wu, on the other hand, overcame a taller, big-hitting No. 5 Jurabek Karimov of Uzbekistan and eked out a 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 triumph to likewise advance to the next round of the tournament.

Earlier, Meng and Karimov booted out the last two Filipino hopefuls in Alberto Lim Jr. and Eric Olivarez Jr., respectively, in last Wednesday’s round-of-16 stage of the event.

Oh will take on No. 4 Zhang Ting Hui of China, who overpowered unseeded Wang Hsiang Yi, 6-1, 6-0, while Wu clashes with No. 3 Chung Yung Seong of Korea, a 6-2, 7-5 winner over No. 7 Nawakarn Khunjan of Thailand for spots in the boys finals.

Meanwhile, Napharat Sawangkaew of Thailand, No. 3 Pranjala Yadlapalli of India, No. 8 Gozal Ainitdinova of Kazakhstan and Yan Qian Ting of China hurdled their respective foes to catch the last two spots in the girls quarters. Sawangkaew trounced Nethmie Waduge of Sri Lanka, 6-2, 6-2; Yadlapalli edged No. 16 Manita Bootsarakomvisit of Thailand, 6-7 (10), 6-3, 7-5; Ainitdinova turned back Chen Tzu Hui of Taipei, 6-7 (11), 6-3, 6-3; and Yan stunned No. 2 Bae Dohee of Korea, 7-5, 5-7, 6-2. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio