Day Four of the G4 Hong Kong ITF Junior Tournament saw a pair of local entries, No. 4 seed Brian Yeung (ITF 297) and No. 14 Kevin Wong (ITF 515), both coming up trumps to secure their places in Friday's boys' singles semifinals.

Over in the girls' singles, Eudice Chong (ITF 998) is the lone Hong Kong survivor after she beat No. 6 seed Li Na, 6-4, 7-5, to set up a semifinal showdown with big-hitting southpaw Zhang Ying.

Draws & Order of Play

After winning the opening set comfortably against No. 10 seed Robbie Ridout with an array of big serves and big forehands, Brian Yeung's high level of play deserted him in the second set. As his unforced errors began to mount, Ridout, on the other hand, picked up his play at the opposite end.

From 2-2, the HK rep lost serve twice in a row rather lackadaisically and eventually yielded the set tamely, 6-2.

Fortunately, Brian Yeung rediscovered his winning ways early in the final set, and from 0-1 down, took the next six games to close out the set and the match, 6-2, 2-6, 6-1.

Next up, Brian Yeung will face top seed Liu Siyu (ITF 98), who was far from impressive in his, 7-6(2), 6-3, win against No. 5 seed Andy Lau on stadium court.

Over the past two years, Liu Siyu and Brian Yeung have met three times in all.

In 2010, Liu Siyu dropped the opening set to the HK rep in the first round at both G5s in Wuhan and Qianshan but ended up winning both encounters.

Brian Yeung, however, won their most significant face-off to date when he beat Liu Siyu, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, at No. 1 singles during the quarterfinal between Hong Kong and China at the 2011 Junior Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Qualifying.

Related Story: Hong Kong beats China 2-1; Qualifies for Junior Davis Cup World Finals (24 Apr 2011)

That, essentially, was the tie saving win that leveled the score at 1-1. It also forced proceedings into the deciding doubles, which Brian Yeung and Kevin Wong combined to beat Liu Si Yu and Li Ze-Yu, 6-1, 6-3.

The 2-1 victory enabled Hong Kong to secure a place in the World Finals at the expense of China.

Although the stakes here this week are not as high, their imminent showdown still makes this an intriguing semifinal match-up nonetheless.

At present, Liu Siyu is the second highest ranked player in the world from China behind Gao Xin (ITF 18), the reigning Asian Closed Junior Tennis Championships winner.

In the bottom half of the draw, No. 14 seed Kevin Wong continued his good play when he beat No. 7 seed Sun Fajing of China in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1.

An early break of serve set the tone in either sets, giving Kevin Wong the upper hand, which his opponent was unable to overcome. A number of screaming down the line passing shots also played their part in dampening any potential fight backs from the 7th seed, as the HK rep was too solid on the day for his dejected Mainland counterpart.

In Friday's semifinals, Kevin Wong will go up against Thailand's 3rd-seeded Chayanon Kaewsuto (ITF 333), who, for the second day in a row, needed a three-hour marathon to progress.

Earlier on Wednesday, Chayanon had to dig deep to win a hotly contested third rounder against China's Zhu Zhicheng (ITF 378), 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(5).

Then in the quarters the following day, he was mired in a baseline struggle against 13th seed Huang Chao-Yu before winning it, 6-1, 6-7(5), 7-5, in a tad over three hours of play.

Kevin Wong, on the contrary, has yet to drop a set all week.

The last local player to triumph in the boys' event at the Hong Kong ITF Junior Tournament was Dino Dell'Orto, who bagged both singles and doubles back in 2008.

He was also the last HK rep to earn a top-100 ranking in boys' singles when he peaked at a career-best No. 87 while gaining a direct acceptance to the maindraw of the 2009 Australian Open Junior Championships.

Meanwhile, in the girls' singles, Eudice Chong continued her good run of form when she saw off No. 6 seed Li Na in two closely fought sets, 6-4, 7-5, in the quarterfinals.

After falling behind by an early break to trail 1-4, Li Na then saved five successive break points in the following game to hold for 2-4. Then serving to stay in the set at 2-5, the No. 6 seed saved another set point to stay afloat before making it 3-5.

Just when it seemed momentum was on Li Na's side after she broke Eudice Chong to peg the score back to 4-5, the HK rep responded exceptionally well to break straight back to love to claim the all-important first set, 6-4.

In the second, Eudice Chong began by saving a break point to hold for 1-0.

Li Na then broke serve and managed to string together a three-game run only to see Eudice Chong replying swiftly with a triple of her own to lead, 4-3.

In a topsy-turvy affair, the six seed answered at once by breaking to go up 5-4.

Once again, the response from Eudice Chong was resolute, as she won the next eight points to regain a momentous 6-5 lead.

Although Li Na was valiant in her effort and saved two match points in the ensuing game, it was not enough to fend off a determined Eudice Chong from securing the winning break on her third match point to ensure a 6-4, 7-5 victory in 90 minutes of play.

As the only local entry left in the girls' draw, Eudice Chong will next go up against hard-hitting left-hander Zhang Ying, who disposed of Russian Anna Grigoryan with an identical, 6-4, 7-5, score line.

The other girls' semifinal will pit unseeded Li Huijie against No. 2 seed Maika Jae Tanpoco of the Philippines, who ended Maggie Ng's run in the last eight with a 6-3, 6-4 victory.

Elsewhere in the boys' doubles semifinals, top-seeded Liu Siyu and Zhu Zhicheng will entertain local duo Brian Yeung and Kevin Wong, while fifth-seeded Indonesians Nuradim Ramdani and Armando Soermano will square off with China's Sun Fajing and Xu Shuai in the bottom half of the draw.

Finally in the girls' doubles, Carmen Lai and her partner Zhang Ying lost narrowly in a third set super-tiebreak, 5-7, 6-1, [10-8], to China's unseeded Kang Jia Qi and Li Huijie in the semis on Thursday. Kang and Li will face the Finnish-Russian combo of Pernilla Wohlstrom and Anna Grigoryan in Friday's final.

Roll of Honour (2004-2011)


Results
Hong Kong ITF Junior Tournament (G4)
Victoria Park, Causeway Bay
January 16-21, 2012

BOYS' SINGLES

Quarterfinals
(1)Liu Siyu (CHN) d. (5)Andy Lau (HKG) 7-6(2) 6-3
(4)Brian Yeung (HKG) d. (10)Robbie Ridout (GBR) 6-2 2-6 6-1
(14)Kevin Wong (HKG) d. (7)Sun Fajing (HKG) 6-2 6-1
(6)Chayanon Kaewsuto (THA) d. (13)Huang Chao-Yu (TPE) 6-1 6-7(5) 7-5


GIRLS' SINGLES

Quarterfinals
Zhang Ying (CHN) d. Anna Grigoryan (RUS) 6-4 7-5
Eudice Chong (HKG) d. (6)Li Na (CHN) 6-4 7-5
Li Huijie (CHN) d. (4)Marian Jade Capadocia (PHI) 6-4 6-1
(2)Maika Jae Tanpoco (PHI) d. Maggie Ng (HKG) 6-3 6-4


BOYS' DOUBLES

Quarterfinals
(1)Liu Siyu/Zhu Zhicheng (CHN) d. Alistair Robson/Robbie Ridout (GBR) 6-2 6-1
(4)Brian Yeung/Kevin Wong (HKG) d. (8)Huang Chao-Yu/Tseng Wen-Po (TPE) 6-4 6-2
(6)Sun Fajing/Xu Shuai (CHN) d. (3)Jurence Mendoza/Singekrawee Wattanakul (PHI/THA) 6-3 3-6 [10-8]
(5)Nuradim Ramdani/Armando Soermano (INA) d. Lee Min-Hsuan/Lu Yi-Ting (TPE) 6-2 6-7(4) [10-7]


GIRLS' DOUBLES

Semifinals
Kang Jia Qi/Li Huijie (CHN) d. Carmen Lai/Zhang Ying (HKG/CHN) 5-7 6-1 [10-8]
Anna Grigoryan/Pernilla Wohlstrom (RUS/FIN) d. (3)Li Na/Shao Yijia (CHN) 6-3 4-6 [10-6]