In an unprecedented effort, the collaboration of the local tennis community has raised in excess of a quarter of a million dollars at the "Tennis For Sichuan" charity event organized by the HKTA last Sunday. However, kudos must go to all the players, coaches, helpers, and especially the Chinese Recreation Club, South China Athletic Association, and the Craigengower Cricket Club for providing the tennis facilities for the occasion. [Photo Gallery]

Fourteen year-old Kelvin Lam (Tennis) was one of three athletes to receive the 2008 HKSI Outstanding Junior Athlete Award (1st quarter), it was announced at the official presentation ceremony on Wednesday. The objective of this scheme is to recognize as well as to encourage sporting excellence by Hong Kong's top junior athletes in both local and international competitions.

In round two of the girls' singles at the Roland Garros Jr Championships, Jessica Yang (ITF 25) was facing No. 10 seed Elena Bogdan (ITF 12), the same player who had ousted her from this year's Aussie Open in three sets. On clay this time, however, the Romanian ran away with a 6-1, 6-3, victory to propel herself into the third round.

World junior No. 25 Jessica Yang is to face Holland's Lesley Kerkhove (ITF 40) in the opening round of the girls' singles at the 2008 French Open Junior Championships. The match is scheduled for Sunday (Jun 1) at 11am out on Court 5.

The Hong Kong Tennis Association is organizing a tennis fundraiser this Sunday (June 1) to help contribute to the relief effort in the aftermath of the 8.0 earthquake that struck Sichuan on May 12.  Hong Kong's top coaches, as well as a number of former and current tennis professionals, will join in with the endeavour. All donations collected via HKTA "Tennis For Sichuan" shall go towards the Hong Kong Red Cross China Relief Fund.

In the opening round of the NCAA Division I Championships, Martin Sayer (Radford) tussled with No. 8 seed Alex Clayton (Stanford) for three sets before going down, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, while Venise Chan (Washington) was caught off guard by the swirling conditions as well as the moon-balling strategy of 24th-ranked Reka Zsilinszka (Duke) in a 6-2, 7-5 setback.

The 2008 Dr. Henry Fok Corporate Patron League concluded earlier on Buddha's Birthday last Monday with the Police Tennis Club (PTC) going home with both the Premier and Bowl titles, while Elegant Scene Leather Goods Ltd. and The Chamber of Hong Kong Computer Industry were crowned Cup and Plate Champions respectively. [Results]

At the 2008 Junior Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Qualifying in Bangkok, the Hong Kong trio of Katherine Ip, Lorraine Cheung, and Leung Lok Sze defeated Singapore 3-0 in the final playoff game to finish in 13th place overall. (1)Uzbekistan, (6)China, (7)Chinese Taipei, and Korea qualified for the September World Finals in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. [Full Results]

Both 58th-ranked UC Santa Barbara and 70th-ranked Radford University were unable to stem the tide against powerhouses Stanford and Georgia, ranked 22nd and 5th respectively, while over in the NCAA Division I women's team championship, the 38th-ranked Washington Huskies were also eliminated by No. 31 Texas A&M at the Regionals in Palo Alto. However, none of the three Hong Kong representatives involved lost their singles match-ups either.

At the C10 Tarakan in Indonesia, the wildcard entry of Jessica Yang and T. J. Welford won three successive matches – all of them via third set super-tiebreaks – to advance to the final where they eventually fell to the Indonesian pairing of Liza Andriyani and Ayu-Fani Damayanti in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3.