Earlier this summer, a number of NTS players have been busy crossing swords with other leading juniors in Asia when they took part in Comps 7 & 8 of the China National 14U Championships in Beijing, in addition to the Philippines and Malaysian legs of the ATF 14 & Under Series in Manila and Kuching respectively.

For the July 14-27 fortnight, Vincent Yau, Brian Yeung, Kevin Wong, Martin Lee, Katherine Ip, Lucy Tang, and Vivian Lin were contesting the final two legs of the China National 14U Championships in Beijing before the event concludes with the Grand Masters scheduled for Jiangmen from October 27-November 2.

In Comp 7, both Vincent Yau and Kevin Wong made it to the last 16, with the former managing to take the opening set against No. 1 seed Tao Junnan before bowing out, 4-6, 6-0, 6-2.

In the doubles, Vincent Yau and Brian Yeung defeated No. 3 seeds Chen Yu-fan and Tang Si-ming (Jianda/Guangdong) in the quarters, 6-7(6), 6-4, [10-3], before losing to top-seeded Gao Xin and Tao Junnan (Jianda) in the final, 6-2, 6-3.

Gao Xin and Tao Junnan turned out to be the China's starting 14U doubles combination at the World Junior Tennis Finals held in Prostejov, Czech Republic, during the first week of August.

As it turned out, Tao Junnan was the No. 2 singles player for the Chinese team during the World Finals, while Gao Xin, seeded third for Comp 7 in Beijing, ended up as the designated No. 1 singles player ahead of Tao Junnan.

Tang Hao-Chen, seeded first for the girls' singles in Comp 7, was to play at the one spot for the Chinese G14U team at the WJT Finals. Against eventual champions USA, Tang Hao-Chen took the opening set against counterpart, Grace Min, before losing, 7-5, 6-7(3), 4-6.

In the girls' singles, both Katherine Ip and Lucy tang got to the semis of the consolations before bowing out.

In Comp 8, Vincent Yau and Kevin Wong also reached the doubles final but lost to No. 1 seeds Gao Xin/Tao Junnan (Jianda) in the final, 6-4, 7-5.

Martin Lee reached the singles quarterfinals but No. 1 seed Tao Junnan proved too strong as the Jianda player won in staright sets, 6-1, 6-2.

Coach Leo Liu reports: We attained some outstanding results at Chinese National U14 tournaments. The pair of runner-up placings were not easy to get particularly the opponents were all training full time averaging 5-6 hours each day and it is far more than what our team do in Hong Kong. During the entire competition, all players had outstanding performances, and everyone had been able to keep up the efforts throughout matches. Our players have improved a lot in terms of technique, match-play experience, and mental training."

At Kuching, Malaysia, Vincent Yau managed to knock out No. 1 seed Amer Naow of Syria, 5-7, 6-1, [10-4]. However, he was then defeated by eventual champion, Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul of Thailand in the semifinals, 6-1, 6-0.

Kevin Wong defeated No. 6 seed Hanifah Rahizam of Malaysia, 6-4, 6-0, in the opening round but fell to India's Abhishek Alla in three sets, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.

In the positional playoffs, Vincent Yau defeated Mohd Assri Merzuki of Malaysia, 6-3, 6-4, to grab third place, while Kevin Wong went down against Kho Er Yang of Malaysia to place 11th overall.

In the boys' doubles, Vincent Yau and Kevin Wong upset No.4 seeds Ji Kent Kwah and Abhishek Alla, 6-1, 6-4, in the first round but eventually falling to top-seeded Malaysians Mohd Assri Merzuki and Syed Agil Syed Naguib in the semis, 0-6, 6-4, [10-3].

In the girls' singles, Vivian Lin, seeded 8th, sailed through her opener but then fell to Lucy tang's conqueror, Wang Ting-Ya of Chinese Taipei in round two. Ma Ka Man yielded just one game in her first round match against local entry Nik Elena Badrul Hisham but was stopped short of a place in the quarterfinals by No. 2 seed Megha Sehrawat in a 6-2, 7-5 setback.

In Manila the following week, No. 4 seed Vincent Yau did not drop a set until the final when he yielded the opening set, 6-2, to unseeded Korean Shin Chan-Hwi before he came back to win the next two, 6-3, 6-4, to claim the boys' singles title.

Shin Chan-Hwi had earlier took out Brian Yeung in the quarterfinals, 7-6(2), 6-1, and then came from a set down to account for Kevin Wong in the semifinals, 0-6, 6-4, 6-0.

Martin Lee upset No. 2 seed Ayman Jaffar of Brunei in the second round, 6-2, 6-1, but then fell to fellow NTS player Kevin Wong in the quarterfinals, 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-3.

In the boys' doubles, Vincent Yau and Brian Yeung made it to the finals after seeing off No. 3 seeds Majed Alshaikh of Saudi Arabia and Duzbionjit Singh of Malaysia in the last eight, 6-3, 6-0. In the title decider, however, the NTS duo fell to the second-seeded HK-Malaysian combo of Kevin Wong and Mohd Assri Merzuki, 7-5, 6-3.

According to the ATF's Asian 14U Series Rankings dated August 21, 2008, the three highest-ranked B14U players from Hong Kong are Kelvin Lam at No. 12, followed by Vincent Yau at No. 15, and Kevin Wong at No. 27.

The three highest-ranked G14U players from the territory are Vivian Lin at No. 72, followed by both Carmen Lai and Katherine Ip at No. 90.

To view the complete results for Kuching and Manila, please visit the official Asian Tennis Federation 14U Series website http://asianunder14.com.

Photo courtesy of www.itfsarawak.org.my.