At the Junior Davis Cup & Junior Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Qualifying, both the Boys' and Girls' 16U contingents from Hong Kong suffered losses earlier today against Thailand and Chinese Taipei respectively. The Boys' team will now face No. 8 seeds New Zealand, and the Girls' against Kazakhstan, in the last round of matches on Monday to determine final positions.

In today's 9th-12th Place Playoffs of the Junior Fed Cup Qualifying, Hong Kong was beaten by Chinese Taipei 2-1.

At number two singles, Lucy Tang battled gamely to take the second set against Tsai Hsin-Ting before succumbing in a deciding set, 6-0, 3-6, 6-3. At number one singles, Leung Lok Sze also tried all she could but was still unable to contain the highly-touted Lee Hua-Chen in a 6-1, 6-1 setback. In the doubles, Lucy Tang teamed up with Katherine Ip to beat Wu Yu-Hui and Tsai Hsin-Ting, 7-6(4), 6-4, to complete the overall 2-1 score line.

Tomorrow, the girls from Hong Kong are slated to face Kazakhstan for outright 11th position in the final playoff game. Kazakhstan is without a ranked player on its team this year, as they came in third in Group D earlier in the round robins behind China and Australia, but ahead of Singapore.

Host Australia, the No. 7 seeds, surprised third-seeded Indonesia in the semifinals today when Molly Polak and Viktorija Rajicic took both singles against Cynthia Melita and Grace Ysidora respectively.

At No. 48, Ysidora is the highest-ranked player in this year's Asia/Oceania Qualifying, followed by Japan's Ema Mutaguchi at No. 69, and China's Zeng Saisai at No. 84.

Still without James Kong who is out injured, the boys' duo of Vincent Yau (ITF 1017) and Justin To (ITF 321) went down 3-0 against 6th-seeded Thailand in the 5th-8th Place Playoffs this afternoon. Hong Kong will play New Zealand in the 7th-8th Place Playoff on Monday to conclude this year's outing for the Junior Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Qualifying.

The Kiwis succumbed 2-1 earlier today to the fourth-seeded Japanese in the other 5th-8th Place Playoffs, despite unranked Jamie Yates picking up a win at number one singles against Motoaki Kita (ITF 400) in straight sets.

The other members of the New Zealand squad are unranked Chester Espie and Jaden Grinter (ITF 532). The Kiwis are seeded 8th this week in spite of the fact that Hong Kong's number two, James Kong (ITF 520), was ranked higher than Grinter, the only player with an ITF ranking on New Zealand's roster.

The highest-ranked player in this week's Asia/Oceania Qualifying is Korea's Jeong Suk-Young (ITF 68). In fact, he is currently the highest-ranked Korean junior regardless of age according to ITF's Combined Junior World Rankings.

His teammate at Shepparton, Chung Hong, who was recently signed on by IMG together with his 12-year-old brother Chung Hyeon, is ranked 269th.

In December 2008, the bespectacled Chung Hyeon took America by storm when he won Boys' 12U singles titles at both the Eddie Herr International Jr Championships and the Junior Orange Bowl as the No. 1 seed.

The Junior Davis Cup & Junior Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Qualifying event was held at the Shepparton Lawn Tennis Club and Tatura Lawn Tennis Club throughout the week of April 15-20.

The Junior Davis Cup/Junior Fed Cup Qualifying begins with a round robin stage where teams are divided into four groups. After three rounds of matches, the top two teams of each group then advance to the knockout stage (quarterfinals). The top 4-placed teams (i.e. semifinalists) will then progress to the World Finals where they will compete against the best 16U teams from around the globe – Africa, Europe, and North America, etc.

This year's World Finals will be held from September 29 to October 4 in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.

About the Junior Davis Cup & Junior Fed Cup by BNP Paribas (tennis.bnpparibas.com)

Results
Junior Davis Cup by BNP Paribas
Asia/Oceania Final Qualifying
Shepparton and Tatura Lawn Tennis Clubs
Victoria, Australia
April 13-21, 2009

ROUND ROBINS

Group D – Day 1 (Apr 15)

HONG KONG defeated (7)PHILIPPINES   3 – 0
R-1 James Kong (HKG) d. Leander Lazzaro (PHI) 6-2 6-0
R-2 Justin To (HKG) d. Jeson Patrombon (PHI) 7-6(3) 6-4
R-3 Justin To/James Kong (HKG) d. Jeson Patrombon/Leander Lazzaro (PHI) 6-2 7-5

Group D – Day 2 (Apr 16)

(2)INDIA defeated HONG KONG   2 – 1
R-1 Saurabh Singh (IND) d. James Kong (HKG) 4-6 6-2 -- Retired (rolled ankle)
R-2 Mohit Mayur (IND) d. Justin To (HKG) 6-1 6-3
R-3 Justin To/Vincent Yau (HKG) d. Saurabh Singh/Ronit Bisht (IND) 3-6 7-6(7) 7-5

Group D – Day 3 (Apr 17)

HONG KONG defeated KAZAKHSTAN   2 – 1
R-1 Vincent Yau (HKG) d. Dinmukhammed Yessenkulov (KAZ) 7-6(4) 4-6 6-3
R-2 Justin To (HKG) d. Denis Yevseyev (KAZ) 6-1 6-3
R-3 Denis Yevseyev/Dinmukhammed Yessenkulov (KAZ) d. Justin To/Vincent Yau (HKG) 4-6 6-2 6-1

Quarterfinals – Day 4 (Apr 18)

(5)AUSTRALIA defeated HONG KONG  3 – 0
R-1 Joey Swaysland (AUS) d. Vincent Yau (HKG) 6-2 6-1
R-2 Luke Saville (AUS) d. Justin To (HKG) 6-3 6-1
R-3 Joey Swaysland/Todd Volmari (AUS) d. Justin To/Vincent Yau (HKG) 6-1 6-3

5th-8th Place Playoffs – Day 5 (Apr 19)

(6)THAILAND defeated HONG KONG   3 – 0
R-1 Aviruth Phaphui (THA) d. Vincent Yau (HKG) 6-3 6-4
R-2 Warit Sornbutnark (THA) d. Justin To (HKG) 6-1 6-4
R-3 Nuttanon Kadchapanan/Aviruth Phaphui (THA) d. Justin To/Vincent Yau (HKG) 7-5 6-3

Results
Junior Fed Cup by BNP Paribas
Asia/Oceania Final Qualifying
Shepparton and Tatura Lawn Tennis Clubs
Victoria, Australia
April 13-21, 2009

ROUND ROBINS

Group A – Day 1 (Apr 15)

(1)JAPAN defeated HONG KONG   3 – 0
R-1 Akiko Omae (JPN) d. Leung Lok Sze (HKG) 6-0 6-0
R-2 Emi Mutaguchi (JPN) d. Katherine Ip (HKG) 6-1 6-1
R-3 Akiko Omae/Yuki Ito (JPN) d. Leung Lok Sze/Lucy Tang (HKG) 6-2 6-1

Group A – Day 2 (Apr 16)

(1)KOREA defeated HONG KONG   3 – 0
R-1 Yea Hyojung (KOR) d. Leung Lok Sze (HKG) 6-2 6-1
R-2 Jang Su-Jeong (KOR) d. Katherine Ip (HKG) 3-6 6-4 6-2
R-3 Jang Su-Jeong/Choi Ji-Hee (KOR) d. Leung Lok Sze/Lucy Tang (HKG) 6-1 6-0

Group A – Day 3 (Apr 17)

HONG KONG defeated MALAYSIA   3 – 0
R-1 Leung Lok Sze (HKG) d. Theiviya Selvarajoo (MAS) 7-5 6-1
R-2 Katherine Ip (HKG) d. Choo Lyn Yee (MAS) 6-4 2-6 6-2
R-3 Katherine Ip/Lucy Tang (HKG) d. Adelle Boey/Theiviya Selvarajoo (MAS) (5)6-7 6-0 6-4

9th-16th Place Playoffs – Day 4 (Apr 18)

HONG KONG defeated SRI LANKA 3 – 0
R-1 Lucy Tang (HKG) d. Kemalie Herath (SRI) 6-0 5-7 6-0
R-2 Leung Lok Sze (HKG) d. Nilushi Fernando (SRI) 6-3 6-0
R-3 Katherine Ip/Lucy Tang (HKG) d. Kemalie Herath/Sherine Wijesingha (SRI) 6-0 6-2

9th-12th Place Playoffs – Day 5 (Apr 19)

CHINESE TAIPEI defeated HONG KONG   2 – 1
R-1 Tsai Hsin-Ting (TPE) d. Lucy Tang (HKG) 6-0 3-6 6-3
R-2 Lee Hua-Chen (TPE) d. Leung Lok Sze (HKG) 6-1 6-1
R-3 Lucy Tang/Katherine Ip (HKG) d. Wu Yu-Hui/Tsai Hsin-Ting (TPE) 7-6(4) 6-4