Lim now No. 22 among world jrs

FILIPINO tennis hotshot Alberto Lim Jr. has leapfrogged from 346th at the start of the year to 22nd in world juniors by the end of 2015.

After winning Grade 1 championships in India and China, the 16-year-old is also expected to rank 12th at the start of the 2016 season when players graduate from the junior ranks.

“I’m very optimistic for next year and I will compete in both junior and pro circuit,” said Lim, who is also the reigning Philippine Columbian Association men’s singles champion.

Lim is expected to be seeded eighth in the Australian Open juniors singles in late January.

The last time a Filipino reached far in Melbourne Park was when Francis Casey Alcantara won the boys doubles in 2009 and Jeson Patrombon made the quarterfinals in boys singles.

Lim, a feisty, power baseline player, is also expected to make the top 10 and improve Patrombon’s previous high ranking in juniors at 11th.

Currently in the United States, Lim said he will take part in two $25,000 USA Futures events in California to kick off his 2016 season.

Lim came back from groin injury at the start of the year with titles in Nanjing in China, and New Delhi and Chandigarh in India.

He was supposed to play in Manila Futures last October but was stricken by dengue fever.