Earlier on Friday at the Indore Tennis Club in India, third-seeded Jessica Yang (ITF 37) defeated No. 14 seed Miyabi Inoue (ITF 97) in the semifinals at the GB1 Asian Closed Jr Tennis Championships, 6-4, 6-4, to advance to the final where top-seeded world No. 4 Noppawan Lertcheewakarn will await.

The number one seed from Chiangmai, however, yielded the opening set to compatriot Sophia Mulsap before pulling away to win their semifinal, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

The upcoming final will be the fifth career meeting between the two players.

Since beating the Thai, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, in the opening round of the G4 Thailand Open in 2005 in the first encounter, Noppawan Lertcheewakarn has won the next three meetings to date without dropping a set. The most recent face-off between the pair came two weeks ago in the semifinals of the Grade 1 Mitsubishi-Lancer in Manila where Noppawan secured a 7-6(4), 6-2 victory before she went on to capture the title.

These two also met in the final of the GB1 Asia/Oceania Closed Championships in Delhi last October, which again went to the Thai number one in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1.

That said, Jessica has shown steely nerves of late, as evidenced by the come-from-behind victory against No. 8 seed Alexandra Kolesnichenko (ITF 87) of Uzbekistan in the quarterfinals a couple a days ago when she trailed 2-6 and 3-5, 0-40 at one stage before recovering brilliantly to win, 2-6, 7-5, 6-4, in the end.

Nothing is lost and a whole lot to gain, as there is still everything to play for.

Results
Asian Closed Junior Tennis Championships (GB1)
Indore Tennis Club, India
7 – 12 April 2008

GIRLS' SINGLES

Semifinals
(1)Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (THA) d. (10)Sophia Mulsap (THA) 4-6 6-3 6-1
(3)Jessica Yang (HKG) d. (14)Miyabi Inoue (JPN) 6-4 6-4

Photo courtesy of Jiro