With all seeded players in the boys' singles receiving byes in the opening round, focus turned to the girls' draw where a huge upset took place, as Thai No. 2 seed Satjaporn Mahajaroenkul (ITF 256) was eliminated by USA's Jessica Pegula (ITF 1027) in the first round, 7-5, 7-6(2), on opening day of the ITF Grade 4 Hong Kong Open Jr Championships at Victoria Park.
There were no such problems for 2005 winner and No. 1 seed, Jessica Yang (ITF 110), who comfortably saw off Natawadee Kotcha of Thailand, 6-1, 6-1. In her last outing on the ITF World Junior Circuit, Jessica reached the semifinals of the Grade 3 China Junior II before getting ousted by eventual champion, Chihiro Takayama of Japan, 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.
Elsewhere, in an all-HK first rounder, Tyler Leung and Justin To were engaged in a drawn out tactical battle with the former playing the role of the moonballing counter-puncher while the latter resembled more of the aggressive big serve-big forehand type. After having taken a 3-0 lead in the final set, Justin To, who came fourth at this year's Asian 14U Championships and was subsequently selected to the ITF Touring Team to Europe this summer, then proceeded to lose the next five games.
Needing to serve to stay in the match at 5-3 down, Justin quickly fell behind 0-30 before he found four big forehands in a row to hold serve. That signaled a comeback alright, as he was to break serve again to eventually take things into a deciding tiebreak, which he won 7-2.
Against the number one seed Christopher Young in the next round, however, Justin could ill afford such erratic play, as the Aussie was a recent quarterfinalist at two Grade 3 events in Darwin earlier this summer.
Top seed for the boys' draw is Christopher Young (ITF 333) of Australia, followed by the Philippines' Pablo Olivarez (352), Thailand's Sorapon Imprapai (366), Sweden's Patrik Brydolf (386), Francis Casey Alcantara (391), James Duckworth (399), Hong Kong's Dino Dell'Orto (416) at number seven. Other seeded players from the territory include Gary Yam at No. 15 and Ryan Ho at No. 16.
Over in the girls' draw, seeded first is Hong Kong's Jessica Yang (ITF 110), followed by Satjaporn Mahajaroenkul (256), Lereesa Easterbrook (283), Giadagiovanna D'Ortona of Italy (401), Chelsea Te Tai of New Zealand (564), Ku Yun of Chinese Taipei (596), Nadia Frederika of Indonesia, and Gabriella Boboc (628).
The Hong Kong Open Junior Championships had been a popular destination for many talented juniors around the world, especially with the Grade A Osaka Mayor's Cup just round the corner. Players of the calibre of Shuzo Matsuoka of Japan, Felix Barrientos of the Philippines, Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand (Champion, 1996), Xavier Malisse of Belgium (Runner-up, 1996), Aisam Qureshi of Pakistan, Andy Roddick of the U.S. (Runner-up, 1998), Chinese Taipei's Lu Yen-Hsun (Champion, 1999), and Wang Yeu-Tzuoo have all, at one time or another, strutted their stuff on the courts of Hong Kong over the years.
Local players who had competed at the Championships in the past included Colin Grant, Rolf Harrison, Derek Ling, Pang Lui, Paulette Moreno, Sven Koehler, Thorsten Poelzl, Melvin Tong, John Hui, Jason Sankey, Wayne Wong (Doubles Champion, 1998), Willy Chan (Runner-up, 1995), Jackie Fu, Tong Ka Po, Yu Hiu Tung (Runner-up, 2002), Jack Hui & Brian Hung (Doubles Champion, 2002), and Martin Sayer.
For more on world junior tennis, visit ITF's official weblet: www.itftennis.com/juniors.