In a replica of opening day's dominant display at the World Junior Tennis Asia/Oceania Qualifying in Shenzhen, the sixth-seeded HK team of Kevin Wong, Kelvin Lam, and Vincent Yau blanked New Zealand 3-0 earlier yesterday to go joint-top in Group 2 together with No. 3 seed China. The territory will next face-off with China to determine final positions for qualification to the knockout stage.

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Playing at the two spot, Kevin Wong again staked Hong Kong to an early 1-0 advantage when he blanked Kiwi number two, Harry James, 6-0, 6-0. Kelvin Lam then followed at number one singles to defeat Tutermoara Durie, 6-4, 6-1, in straight sets. Kevin Wong and Vincent Yau then took to the courts and registered a 6-0, 6-0 win in the doubles against Tutermoara Durie and Tom Sizeland.

WJT Boys' Team Captain, Michael Lai, reports from Shenzhen: "We again came out very determined and all credit to the boys, they played exceptional from start to finish, especially Kevin, who gave his opponent no chance whatsoever. We will be playing China in our final group stage match, hopefully we can top our group and be in a better position for the knockout stage."

"There won't be any easy matches any more," he added.  "It all starts from here."

On the China team are two familiar names. During the 2006 China Nike Junior Tour Grand Masters, Vincent Yau and Kevin Wong did wonderfully well to reach the Boys' 12U doubles final before finishing runners-up to the Tianjin-Jianda pairing of Gao Xin and Tao Jun-Nan in the title decider.

Last year, however, in the B12U singles final, Kevin Wong, seeded third, defeated No. 1 seed Shen You-Xu (Tianjin), 6-1, 6-3, while in the B12U doubles final, Kevin Wong and Brian Yeung, also seeded third, saw off second-seeded Chen Lin and Chen Xing 8-2 to cement the territory's dominance in this particular age group.

This year's China team is spearheaded by none other than Gao Xin and Tao Jun-Nan.

Needless to say, to qualify as group winners will likely yield a lower seeded opponent in the quarterfinals. Thus, even though the Hong Kong players have already guaranteed themselves a place in the knockout stage, there is every reason to gun for a win against China.

If the score alone from the China-New Zealand match was anything to go by, Gao Xin, who played number one singles, had a much tougher time against Tutermoara Durie. In fact, he dropped the opening set, 6-1, to the Kiwi number one before winning in two tight sets, 7-5, 7-5, in the end.

After two round robin matches, it seemed like the only player to standout was Aussie number one, Luke Saville, who has been thumping his opposite number rather convincingly. However, in terms of team dominance, Hong Kong has only yielded 9 games in two matches – all other teams have yielded 20-plus games thus far.

Luke Saville and Jack Schpanski were part of the 2007 Aussie 14U National Tour to Italy and China.

Last year, Jason Kubler led the Australian WJT team to a first place finish at the Asia/Oceania Qualifying, and then followed that up by winning all his singles at the one spot in the World Finals held in the Czech Republic to secure Australia's first-ever triumph in this competition.

A total of fifteen boys team are competing for the region's four available spots to the World Junior Tennis Finals, to be held in Prostejov, Czech Republic, from August 4-9. The groupings in Shenzhen are as follows:

Group 1	(1)India	Malaysia	Tajikistan
Group 2	(3)China	(6)Hong Kong	New Zealand	Philippines
Group 3	(4)Korea	(5)Japan	Chinese Taipei	Indonesia
Group 4	(2)Australia	(7)Uzbekistan	Kazakhstan	Thailand

The girls' event in the Asia/Oceania Zone Qualifying will take place from April 21 – 26, also at the East Lake Tennis Club in Shenzhen. Representing Hong Kong will be Katherine Ip, Carmen Lai, and Lucy Tang. Katherine Ip currently ranks No. 1 in both the G14 and G16 age groups locally.

The World Junior Tennis Competition is the ITF Team Championships for Boy and Girls of 14 & Under. Notable players who have competed in the WJT over the years included Tommy Haas, Xavier Malisse, Lleyton Hewitt, Guillermo Coria, David Nalbandian, Rafael Nadal, Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters, Amelie Mauresmo, Lina Krasnoroutskaya, Daniela Hantuchova.

While no girls' team from the territory had ever qualified for the WJT Finals, two previous boys' teams have managed to place fourth or better at the Regionals to progress to the World Finals.

The first time a boys' team from Hong Kong achieved such feat was in 1994 when the two-pronged attack of Jason Sankey and Wayne Wong secured the territory's first-ever qualification to the World Finals in this competition by placing second behind only Lleyton Hewitt's Australia in the Asia/Oceania qualifying.

In the subsequent World Finals held at the Yamanakako Tennis Club in Japan that year, the HK duo took to the courts with the likes of Belgium's Xavier Malisse and Hewitt for a second time round after having drawn to face the Aussies in both the regional qualifiers and in the finals that year.

The last time a Hong Kong team qualified for the World Junior Tennis Finals was in 2001 when Martin Sayer spearheaded a Boys' 14U contingent comprising Ronald Chow and Brian Wong to finish third at the Asia/Oceania Qualifying to progress to the Cesky Telecom WJT Finals in the Czech Republic.

Martin managed to go undefeated in singles throughout the 2001 Asia/Oceania Qualifying in Sri Lanka and led the team to victories over seeded opponents New Zealand, Australia and China, while losing only in the semifinals to Kim Sun-Yong's Korean team that year. Kim Sun-Yong, of course, was to later become world number one on January 3, 2005.

Results
World Junior Tennis Asia/Oceania Qualifying
East Lake Tennis Club, Shenzhen, China
14 – 19 April 2008

Group 2 (Round Robins)

Day 1 (Apr 14)
(6)HONG KONG defeated PHILIPPINES   3 – 0
R-1 Kevin Wong (HKG) d. Juan Paolo Cansino (PHI) 6-2 6-0
R-2 Kelvin Lam (HKG) d. Arjohn Dela Cruz (PHI) 6-1 6-0
R-3 Kelvin Lam/Vincent Yau (HKG) d. Enrique Gabriel Ferrer/Juan Paolo Casino (PHI) 6-1 6-0

Day 2 (Apr 15)
(6)HONG KONG defeated NEW ZEALAND   3 – 0
R-1 Kevin Wong (HKG) d. Harry James (NZL) 6-0 6-0
R-2 Kelvin Lam (HKG) d. Tutermoara Durie (NZL) 6-4 6-1
R-3 Kevin Wong/Vincent Yau (HKG) d. Tutermoara Durie/Tom Sizeland (NZL) 6-0 6-0