Bucking his foes’ hometown crowd, second seed Jeson Patrombon wore down 11th seed Korean Jae Hwan Kim, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), Friday to crash into the semifinals of the Seogwipo Asian/Oceania Closed junior tennis championships in Jeju-do, South Korea.
Patrombon methodically carved the victory which his coach Manny Tecson said not only put him to the semifinals of the Grade B1 event for the first time but also racked up his confidence as well.
“Jeson has learned so much from his past mistakes and now he is ready both mentally and physically to take on anyone,” said Tecson in an e-mail. “The Koreans play tough in their own country.”
Kim had ousted recent Thailand Open champ Luke Saville in the first round. Another local campaigner booted out top seed Chinese Bowen Ouyangin in the quarterfinals.
Now Patrombon will be up against Ben Wagland of Australia, the third seed who defeated 10th seed Wishaya Trongcharsenchaikul of Thailand, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5).
Patrombon’s partnership with New Zealand’s Jaden Grinter, however, fell to Zhaoyi Cao and Xing Bang Liu of China, 6-4, 6-4, in boys doubles quarters.
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