 Photographer: Hiromasa Mano
Date: 12 Oct 2006 |  Photographer: Hiromasa Mano
Date: 12 Oct 2006 |  Photographer: Hiromasa Mano
Date: 11 Oct 2006 |  Photographer: Hiromasa Mano
Date: 12 Oct 2006 |  Photographer: Hiromasa Mano
Date: 12 Oct 2006 |  Photographer: Hiromasa Mano
Date: 14 Oct 2005 |
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| 12 Oct 2006 - Helen McFetridge | |
| Belic Edges Through in Osaka |
Top seed Luka Belic remains on course for his first Grade A title after edging past Korea’s Dae-Soung Oh by the narrowest of margins in the third round yesterday. The Croatian world number seven needed two tie-breaks to get past his unseeded opponent, eventually coming through 76(7) 76(6).
It was a bad day for the seeds in the boys’ singles as three fell to unseeded opponents, most notably Chinese Taipei’s Hsin-Han Lee, seeded two, who was beaten by local player Yuichi Sugita. Other upsets were caused by China’s Zhuo-Qing Zhou, who knocked out 14th seed Hiroki Moriya of Japan, and Luka Somen of Croatia, who had a straight sets win over the only American in the draw, 10th seed Jason Jung. Two other seeded Japanese players fell, with third seed Sho Aida, a semi-finalist last year, going down 64 06 63 to Peraklat Siriluethaiwattana (THA), and Genki Tomita, seeded 11, only managing to get three games of fifth seed Greg Jones (AUS). There was better news for another local player, however, as Tatsuma Ito defeated Vladimir Zinyakov 61 64 to claim his place in the quarter-finals.
The seeds fared better in the girls’ singles draw, with seven of the eight quarter-finalists seeded. The only non-seed to feature in the last eight is Japan’s Shiho Akita, who had a straight sets win over Russian fifth seed Elena Chernyakova. Akita will now play her fellow Japanese, second seed Ayumi Morita, who had a straightforward win over Kai-Chen Chang (TPE). 16-year-old Morita is playing the Osaka Mayor’s Cup for the fourth time, and is hoping to go one better than last year when she finished runner-up to world champion Viktoria Azarenka. Her main rival should be top seed Caroline Wozniacki (DEN), whom she has played in Osaka twice before, losing in the third round in 2004 but gaining her revenge in last year’s semi-finals. Wimbledon champion Wozniacki has won five of her previous seven meetings with Morita, and has been looking in great form this week, conceding just four games in three matches so far. She will next play Hong Kong’s Ling Zhang, the seventh seed. Also in the top half of the draw, fourth seed Anastasia Pivovarova (RUS) will face Belgian 14-year-old Tamaryn Hendler, seeded 10. In the bottom half, 11th seed Ksenia Lykina (RUS) meets third seed Nikola Hofmanova (AUT) after they defeated Misaki Doi and Chinami Ogi respectively.
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