Taiwan's Lee Hsin-Han (158) and Hsieh Cheng-Peng (210), the players with the highest ATP doubles rankings in this year's field, defeated China's Gao Peng and Gao Wan, 6-1, 6-4, to win the Hong Kong Tennis Champions Cup 2011 held at the Clearwater Bay Golf & Country Club over the weekend.


Past Results (2003-2011)

Lee and Hsieh had been the dominant pair throughout the round robins and during the knockout stages, and ended up never dropping a set in the entire tournament.

In the opening set of the final, Lee and Hsieh broke Gao Wan twice to easily take the opener, 6-1. The service games delivered by No. 2 seeds from Taiwan were so potent that they lost just one point on serve in the entire set, which took merely 18 minutes to complete.

In the second, the Gao brothers played much better and were able to keep their service games intact until 3-3 when Gao Wan was broken at 15 to trail 4-3. Lee immediately threw down a love hold to consolidate the crucial break for a 5-3 lead.

Serving to stay in the match, Gao Peng wasted two games points when he was pulled back from 40-15 to deuce. From that point, Gao was under complete siege by the Taiwanese duo and, to his credit, managed to save five consecutive match points before finally holding serve for 5-4.

Lee, powerful and as steady as ever, held at 15 to complete the 6-1, 6-4, drubbing in one hour and three minutes of play.

Earlier in the semis, 4th-seeded Phillip King and Jonathan Chu were scheduled to face 3rd seed Gao Peng and Gao Wan. However, Brian Yeung and Kevin Wong, following a no-show from Chu, replaced the fourth seeds.

"The local boys played very well, especially in that opening tiebreak set against the Gaos. It was the best performance from all the local entries against the Chinese pair," said CBGCC Tennis Director, Stephen So. "Yeung and Wong also played well in the round robins - unlucky to lose to Morris/Le with 3 match points in the super-tiebreak, but also good showing against King/Chu. Very impressive indeed."

As reported earlier, Lee Hsin-Han and Hsieh Cheng-Peng were the obvious form players heading into Clearwater Bay last weekend, with six Futures titles under their belts alone this season. They also enjoyed some success on the Challenger Circuit, reaching the final in Napoli and semis in Knoxville and Palermo.

They also combined to win the gold medal in men's doubles at the World University Games in Shenzhen earlier this summer.

Lee Hsin-Han also won two other Futures, plus the Wuhai Challenger, this season with different partners. Two months ago, he teamed up with Yi Chu-Huan to win the crucial doubles 8-6 in the fifth against Cecil Mamiit and Treat Huey that paved the way for Chinese Taipei's 3-2 victory over Philippines in the Davis Cup Group I Relegation Playoff.

China's Gao Wan and Gao Peng, currently ranked No. 371 and No. 424 respectively, have combined to reach the final of a Futures event four times this year. The duo narrowly went down against Lee Hsin-Han and Hsieh Cheng-Peng, 4-6, 7-5, [4-10], in the semifinals of the China F5 Futures in Nanjing earlier in May.

In terms of ATP doubles rankings, Lee and Hsieh are ranked 1st and 3rd among all pros from Chinese Taipei, while Gao Wan and Gao Peng are the 3rd and 4th highest-ranked among all current Chinese players.

The Taiwanese duo's form and rankings, however, have risen dramatically since six months ago, as evidenced by their complete dominance in this year's final.

The inclusion of such professionals in this year's field was a great way to show the general and tennis-playing public the huge difference between amateurs and professionals. It is also a stark reminder that it takes years of dedicated training and personal sacrifice and perseverance in order to progress to the next level.

Either talent or hard work alone will not suffice.

Yet for burgeoning upstarts such as Brian Yeung and Kevin Wong, these matches will almost certainly turn out to be invaluable experiences for them and hopefully, even a platform to catapult them to bigger and better things ahead.

The world is your oyster.



Results
Hong Kong Tennis Champions Cup 2011
Clearwater Bay Golf & Country Club
December 10-11, 2011

ROUND ROBINS

Green Group
(2)Lee Hsin Han/Hsieh Cheng-Peng d. Kelvin Lam/Jose Caballero 6-2 6-1
(3)Gao Peng/Gao Wan d. Jason Lijewski/Coenie Van Wyk 6-2 6-2
(2)Lee Hsin-Han/Hsieh Cheng-Peng d. (3)Gao Peng/Gao Wan 7-6(5) 6-4
Jason Lijewski/Coenie Van Wyk d. Kelvin Lam/Jose Caballero 6-3 6-4
(2)Lee Hsin Han/Hsieh Cheng-Peng d. Jason Lijewski/Coenie Van Wyk 6-2 6-2
(3)Gao Peng/Gao Wan d. Kelvin Lam/Jose Caballero 6-1 6-0


Yellow Group
Kevin Wong/Brian Yeung d. (1)Paradorn Srichaphan/Tanakorn Srichaphan 6-4 6-2
(4)Phillip King/Jonathan Chu d. Carter Morris/Le Minh 6-4 6-4
(4)Phillip King/Jonathan Chu d. (1)Paradorn Srichaphan/Tanakorn Srichaphan 6-1 6-2
Carter Morris/Le Minh d. Kevin Wong/Brian Yeung 6-2 2-6 [12-10]
Carter Morris/Le Minh d. (1)Paradorn Srichaphan/Tanakorn Srichaphan 6-0 6-2
(4)Phillip King/Jonathan Chu d. Kevin Wong/Brian Yeung 6-1 6-7(5) [10-4]


SEMIFINALS
(2)Lee Hsin-Han/Hsieh Cheng-Peng d. Carter Morris/Le Minh 6-4 6-1
(3)Gao Peng/Gao Wan d. Brian Yeung/Kevin Wong 7-6(4) 6-3 [Chu no show - King/Chu replaced by Yeung/Wong]


FINAL
(2)Lee Hsin-Han/Hsieh Cheng-Peng d. (3)Gao Peng/Gao Wan 6-1 6-4



Photo of Brian Yeung/Kevin Wong courtesy of Dr. Lam Kam Wah