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FOURTH seed Soong Jae Cho of South Korea, banking on his solid
double-handed forehand, ousted top seed Andrew Thomas of Australia,
3-6, 6-2, 6-3, to reach the boys’ singles final in the 19th
Mitsubishi Lancer International Junior Tennis Championship on
Saturday at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.
The 17-year-old netter from Seoul fired six
aces, including two in the final set, to beat the world’s No. 15
Australian after one hour and 36 minutes.
Cho, who played in the French and US Open
Juniors, Wimbledon and Orange Bowl Juniors last year, will face
second seed Borut Puc of Slovenia, who scored a 4-6, 6-4, 6-0
victory over 12th-seeded Filipino Francis Casey Alcantara in the
other semifinal match.
“It was a tough game. He [Alcantara] was
fighting very hard. The heat didn’t bother me because I used
to play in this kind of weather,” said Puc, who lives in
Bradenton, Florida and trains under famous coach Nick Bolletierri.
In the girls’ singles, top pick Noppawan
Lertcheewakarn of Thailand defeated fourth seed Yang Zi-Jun of Hong
Kong, 7-6 (4), 6-2, to advance in the final against No. 10 Timea
Babos of Hungary, who rallied past No. 12 Nadia Kichenok of Ukraine,
4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5).
-- Emil C. Noguera
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