The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Yuki makes final

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 09, 2005

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Yuki makes final

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, APRIL 8. Yuki Bhambri outplayed the seventh-seeded Cheng-Peng Hsieh of Chinese Taipei 6-2, 6-2 to sail into the final of the ITF Asian under-14 tennis championship at the DLTA Complex here on Friday.

Living up to his new found status the fifth-seeded Yuki, who had upset the top-seeded Pattrayu Chumpetch of Thailand in the previous round, played sharp and varied the pace of his game in spells to thoroughly unsettle the left-hander from Taipei.

Getting off to a sound start with good serves and clean strokes, Yuki teased his diminutive opponent with a crafty game. The 12-year-old Delhi lad broke the Taipei boy in the second and eighth games of the first set and was equally authoritative in the second set as he broke him in the sixth and eighth games.

A fifth place in the first tournament and a final now should ensure a berth for Yuki in the ITF Asian team for Europe in July. He, however, would be out to settle a score in the final against the second-seeded Tsung-Hua Yang of Chinese Taipei who beat him in the quarterfinals of the first tournament.

If the strongly-built Yang with an attractive power-packed game is not able to bulldoze Yuki, the local lad may be able to get into a competitive counter-punching mode in his bid to make a match of it.

In the girls' section, it will be a repeat of the first week final, as the top-seeded Albina Khabibulina of Uzbekistan set up a title clash against Noppawan Lertcheewakarn of Thailand.

The results (semifinals): Boys: Yuki Bhambri bt Cheng-Peng Hsieh (Tpe) 6-2, 6-2; Tsung-Hua Yang (Tpe) bt Abdulnour Bronou (Syr) 6-3, 6-3.

Girls: Albina Khabibulina (Uzb) bt Nicha Lertpitaksinchai (Tha) 6-2, 6-4; Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (Tha) bt Alexandra Kolesnichenko (Uzb) 6-4, 6-0.

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