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| 09 Oct 2003 | |
| Smooth progress for leading contenders |
It was another successful day for the leading lights at the
Osaka Super Juniors in Japan. Day four brought no surprises, in fact all
sixteen singles’ matches were won by the higher-ranked player.
Neither of the top seeds lost a game, boys’ no.1 seed Marcos
Baghdatis ruthlessly dismissed Weerapat Doakmaiklee 60 60 while Emma Laine, top
seed in the girls’ competition thrashed Stefanie Rath (AUT) by the same score.
Next up for Baghdatis is seventh seed Kiril Tcherveniachki,
(NZL), who defeated Lachlan Ferguson (AUS) 62 63 whilst the second seed in the
boys’ singles, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) who dismissed Joel Kerley (AUS) 62 64,
now faces the only unseeded player left, Martin Fischer (AUT).
Andrea Hlavackova, seeded two, advanced to the girls’
quarterfinals with an easy 61 61 victory over Megumi Fukui (JPN) and now meets
Mari Andersson (SWE), seeded 11. Emma Laine’s next opponent is Yung-Jan Chan
(TPE), winner in Brunei last week, who dropped a set in overcoming Kelly De
Beer (NED) 36 62 75.
Fellow Brunei Champion and compatriot Tai-Wei Liu, seeded
three in the boys’ singles, also was made to work for his 62 57 63 victory over
Steven Popovic, while the only other players to drop a set were Rui Du (CHN),
the girls’ sixth seed, who beat Wen-Hsin Hsu (TPE) 61 67(0) 75.
While attention is focused on the boys’ singles with two of
three contenders for the year-end No.1 slot competing, Emma Laine and Andrea
Hlavackova have the chance to raise their ranking and secure a higher place in
the Junior Exempt programme, open to the top 10 girls in the year-end rankings,
which would mean direct entry into higher value tournaments on the ITF Women’s
Circuit. This would cap a memorable year for Laine, which has seen the Finn
reach two Grand Slam semifinals and win her first grade 1 title on the ITF
Junior Circuit.
Check
itfjuniors.com for daily match reports and results
Click
here for drawsheets
Photographs
by Hiromasa Mano
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