Unlike the last meeting between the two when Yu Hiu Tung had Tianjin's Sun Peng down and almost out, the Chinese number one and world No. 336 was on fire in yesterday's quarterfinal of the men's singles qualifying at the 10th All China Games, as he went through to the semis with the loss of only one game, while Wayne Wong tried in vain with a banged up shoulder against No. 3 seed, Zhu Ben-Qiang, of Hubei in a, 6-1, 6-1, loss.

Although the Hong Kong duo failed to advance to the final four, they had already booked their places in October's ACG maindraw by virtue of reaching the round of 16 earlier on Tuesday.

According to HKSI Head Tennis Coach, Stan Tamura, their quarterfinal showing should be enough to guarantee the two Hong Kong Davis Cuppers a first round bye in Nanjing where the ACG proper will be held.

"Nevertheless, it still has been a very successful event for our guys, with both making the final eight, which should give them a first round bye into the round of 16 in the finals. The bottom line was always going to qualify first. The top four seeds have really separated themselves above the others and obviously favourites for the medals. Tung and Wayne are in a group of about half dozen others who stand a chance depending on their match-day performance and luck with the draws, etc," said Coach Tamura from Tianjin.

Without further damage to his troublesome shoulder due to an inflamed tendon, it was decided that Wayne would give it as best a go under the circumstances. However, serving at way less than maximum proficiency certainly did not help matters when facing Chinese Davis Cupper, Zhu Ben-Qiang, who peaked at No. 276 two years ago. The HK number one had a break point on Zhu's serve in the opening game of the match but could not capitalise. His opponent took advantage of Wayne's weakened serve and won the next four games for a 5-0 lead before he finally held to register his lone game in the first set.

The second set was a little different, as Wayne held at least one game point in each of the first four opening service games between the two. However, he only managed the lone break in the second game to draw level at 1-1 after again failing to capitalise with a 40-15 lead in the previous game. Zhu was swinging freely by now, and even though he faced game points against him in the third and fourth games, he went on another five game run to take the second set and the match.

"It was just really frustrating not being able to win any free points on serve. The shoulder hurt quite a bit, especially on the backhand side and, obviously, the serve. The second set was slightly better in that I did manage to scrap together several game points on my serve and against his. But it would be tough against him, regardless. He's very solid from the back, can mix it up, and doesn't give any too many free points," lamented Wayne who received permission from both the referee and the official medical officer to abstain from further participation in the event.

Tung is still in Tianjin for the ensuing 5th - 8th place playoff, due to continue on Easter Sunday.

"To have a serious run at a medal in the finals, we'd have to step it in the next six months and improve on some of our weaknesses. There's work to be done," added Coach Tamura.

Elsewhere, in the women's singles qualifying, Hubei's second-seeded, Li Na, defeated No. 8 Yan Zi of Sichuan, 6-1, 7-5, to join top seed Peng Shuai (Tianjin), No. 3 Zheng Jie (Sichuan) and No. 4 Sun Tian-Tian (Henan) in the semis. Fifth seed Li Ting (Hubei) withdrew from her scheduled quarterfinal match-up with No. 1 seed Peng Shuai, citing injury.

Meanwhile, officials deemed the 1st - 2nd place playoff in the mixed doubles between Hubei's Zhu Ben-Qiang/Li Ting and Jiangsu's Zeng Shao-Xuan/Ji Chun-Mei a double default, as players on either team cited injury as the reason for not taking part. Both teams were accorded equal first place finishes.

Results
10th All China Games - Qualifying
Tianjin
18-26 March 2005

Men's Singles

Second Round
(9)Yu Hiu Tung (HKG) d. Li Jian (Henan) 6-0 6-0
(11)Wayne Wong (HKG) d. Zhang Zhe (Shandong) 6-2 6-0

Third Round
(9)Yu Hiu Tung (HKG) d. Bu Wan-Bo (Hebei) 6-2 6-1
(11)Wayne Wong (HKG) d. Gong Mao-Xin (Jiangsu) 6-0 7-5

Fourth Round
(9)Yu Hiu Tung (HKG) d. (7)Zhang Yu (Beijing) 6-1 ret'd
(11)Wayne Wong (HKG) d. Li Zhe (Tianjin) 7-5 7-5

Quarterfinals
(1)Sun Peng (Tianjin) d. (9)Yu Hiu Tung (HKG) 6-1 6-0
(3)Zhu Ben-Qiang (Hubei) d. (11)Wayne Wong (HKG) 6-1 6-1