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Saturday, May 10, 2008

Hong Kong to face Singapore in JFC Qualifying finale
By Andy Yanne @ 1:13 PM :: 127 Views ::

After coming away second best against the eighth-seeded Indonesians on Thursday in the opening match of the 9th-16th Placements, the Hong Kong trio of Katherine Ip, Leung Lok Sze, and Lorraine Cheung defeated Malaysia 3-0 on Friday to set up a finale with Singapore in a battle for 13th-14th place at the 2008 Junior Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Qualifying in Bangkok on Saturday.

[Full Results]

Against Malaysia yesterday, Lorraine Cheung at number two singles defeated Toi Sieu-Minn, 6-0, 6-2, to hand over a 1-0 lead to Katherine Ip at the one spot, an advantage that the territory held for the first time at this year's qualifying. Katherine Ip, who at age 13 is doubling up as the anchor for both the 14U World Junior Tennis and 16U Junior Fed Cup teams, did not disappoint, as she beat Sia Huey-Teng, 6-0, 6-4, to secure Hong Kong's first win in Bangkok this week.

Lorraine Cheung and Leung Lok Sze then completed the 3-0 victory by defeating Adelle Boey and Sia Huey-Teng in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1.

The Hong Kong JFC team will round things off at this year's Asia/Oceania Qualifying with a match-up against Singapore in a battle for outright 13th position.

There were a couple of shock upsets earlier in the quarterfinals where Korea surprised No. 2 seeds Japan with Hong Sheung-Yeon shocking Sachie Ishizu (ITF 116) at the one spot. Chinese Taipei, though unseeded, advanced to the final four at the expense of the third-seeded Aussies by coming from a set down in the deciding doubles to secure a 2-1 victory.

Since the inauguration of the event in 1985, only two teams from Hong Kong have ever qualified for the JFC World Finals.

In 2005, the one-two of Zhang Ling and Venise Chan had to do it the hard way when they needed to beat No. 3 seed New Zealand in a do-or-die third place playoff in order to qualify for Barcelona. Reason: whenever a team from Asia/Oceania finishes in 16th position in the World Finals, then Asia/Oceania as a region will get to send only 3, instead of the usual 4, teams to the World Finals the following year.

Certainly, beating the Kiwis in the 3rd Place Playoff was the clincher, but equally important was the win against No. 4 seeds Uzbekistan in the round robins because that meant HK qualified for the knockout stage as group winners, and thus avoided having to face (1)China, (2)Australia, or (3)New Zealand in the opening round. As it turned out, Uzbekistan ended up having to face (1)China in the quarterfinals and therefore failed to advance further. That year, (1)China, (2)Australia, and (5)Hong Kong were the teams to qualify for the World Finals in Barcelona. Venise Chan went undefeated at No. 2 singles, a feat that was equalled last year by Uzbekistan's Aleksandra Kolesnichenko.

In 2006, the one-two of Jessica Yang and Geraldine Leong also managed to beat Uzbekistan in the quarterfinals to advance to the final four, but this time round, it was enough to guarantee them a place in the ensuing World Finals in Barcelona. The other three teams to book their rightful place in Spain were Australia, China, and Japan.