MANILA, Philippines—It’s all-Korean in boys and all-Chinese in girls.
The region’s sporting superpowers flexed their muscles and ensured that the singles trophies won’t go to anybody else as they sent their players to the finals of the ITF/ATF Asia 14-under tennis championships at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.
Top seed Korean Oh Chan-yeong brushed off gritty fourth seed Zhang Tinghui of China, 7-5, 6-1, even as compatriot and No. 3 seed Chung Yun-seong forged a hard-earned 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 triumph over second-seeded Taiwanese Wu Tung-lin.
Oh, a lean, hard-hitting 13-year-old, imposed his type of game against Zhang to barge into the his first ever final appearance. Ranked 1,817th in the world, Oh previously made quarterfinals in similar ITF tourneys in Korea.
But Chung will be the dark horse after the 13-year-old’s upset of Wu. Chung is ranked 833rd in the world in singles and is in his first final stint after making the top 16 in Jeju-do last November.
Oh vowed to give it his best against Chung but added that staying power and stamina will spell the difference as the match is scheduled under the noonday sun.
In girls action, Chinese top pick Li Yunu took the long, hard route to dispose of hard-fighting Indian Pranjala Yadlapalli, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4), 7-5, even as Cao Siqi hardly broke a sweat in beating compatriot Yan Qianting, 6-1, 6-1.
Li had an error-laden match against Yadlapalli and practically scrambled to avert an upset. Cao was in top form in the semifinals, needing just 35 minutes to wrap things up.