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2022-11-30

CRC OPEN 2022

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CRC OPEN 2022

With this year’s Prudential Hong Kong National Tennis Championships and SCAA Open titles in his possession, defending champion Jack Wong defeated former two-time winner Kevin Wong, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, in the final to complete the Triple Crown.  In doing so, he registered his fourth career CRC Open title.  Meanwhile, in a repeat of last month’s SCAA Open final, Maggie Ng beat Sviatlana Pirazhenka, 6-2, 6-3, to capture the ladies’ singles for the third time.

After exchanging a break of serve each to start the men’s singles final, Jack Wong lost just one point on his next four service games while, in the pivotal eighth game, Kevin Wong managed to save two break points to force deuce, but Jack Wong moved in after a deep approach to put away a volley winner after a 20-stroke rally to set up his third break chance.  Following another protracted exchange, Jack Wong ran down a drop volley and hit a forehand down the line to break for 5-3.  The top seed then aced out wide at 40-0 to hold for the opener, 6-3.

Next, Jack Wong produced a running single-handed backhand pass to set up break point and did so following a volley error from his opponent to start the second.  Leading 3-2, the top seed faced a 15-40 deficit on his serve but won four points in a row to take the score to 4-2 with a running forehand crosscourt winner.  Just when it seemed the match was slowly slipping away, Kevin Wong managed to raise his level of play, as he was able to clamp down on loose errors and constructed points with more conviction.  He was also serving much better and connected on his down the line drives off both wings with higher frequency.  He lost just two more points on his serve, while breaking Jack Wong twice in succession to snag the next four games to take the set, 6-4.

Both players held authoritatively in their opening couple of service games to arrive at 2-2.  Then, after nailing an inside-in forehand winner to make it 30-30 on his serve, Kevin Wong coughed up a costly forehand error after his opponent had defended superbly from side to side.  Jack Wong then wrong-footed the No. 2 seed with a forehand down the line to break for 3-2.  Although Kevin Wong fought valiantly to ward off three game points with some heavy forehands, a couple of close line calls later saw Jack Wong eventually consolidate for 4-2.  Serving to stay in the match trailing 5-3, Kevin Wong quickly found himself down 0-40 and facing three match points.  After saving them with two first serves a deep backhand approach,  he threw down a first serve winner down the tee on his fourth game point to hold for 5-4.  

Jack Wong then jumped out to a 40-15 lead with two more match points in hand the following game, but his opponent dug deep to save them both to force deuce again.  The top seed then threw a slider out wide for an ace, which was hotly disputed, to arrive at his sixth match point, but Kevin Wong survived again with excellent lateral defense, forcing a backhand error from the defending champ.  On his seventh match point, Jack Wong belted a second serve ace down the tee to win the contest, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

“We played a good match.  The score was tight after the first few games. Kevin definitely pushed me to play my best tennis at the end.  Of the four times I won, today’s was definitely my best performance,” said Jack Wong.  

Earlier, in the first men’s semifinal, No. 1 seed Jack Wong yielded his serve in the third game to trail 2-1 against Roger Ng.  However, he swiftly engineered a five-game onslaught and broke his opponent three times en route to a 6-2 first set.  In the second, games went with serve until 3-2, when Wong took advantage of a couple of loose shots from Ng to break again and then consolidated for a 5-2 lead.  The top seed then produced a love hold to end the contest, 6-2, 6-3.

In the other semifinal No. 2 seed Kevin Wong went on a five-game tear to win the first set 6-1 against Sunny Yue.  At the start of the second, however, it was Yue who got the better of the former two-time champion, breaking him early to jump out to a 2-0 lead.  Then, trailing 3-1, Wong strung together a three-game run to retake a slender 4-3 lead.  After Yue held to force a 4-4 stalemate, he further thwarted two games points on Wong’s serve to force deuce before the No. 2 seed eventually held to lead 5-4.   Up 40-15 in his next service game, Yue was unable to capitalise further and Wong pounced again to break for the set and the match, 6-1, 6-4.

In ladies’ singles, top seed Maggie Ng started the final by taking advantage of her opponent’s seeming struggle with timing on the slick indoor surface and broke immediately to jump out to a 3-0 lead.  However, a spate of errors in the fifth game saw Sviatlana Pirazhenka break back for 3-2.  Ng then won a 22-stroke rally with her opponent serving at 30-40 to break right back for 4-2.  After the top seed consolidated for 5-2, Pirazhenka was again facing a 30-40 deficit on her serve.  Although she saved the set point, the Belarusian then threw down a double fault before Ng hit a backhand crosscourt winner to sew up the first set with her third break, 6-2.

At 2-1 in the second, Ng took advantage of a short second serve from her opponent and drilled a backhand winner on break point to go up 3-1.  The top seed took no time to consolidate behind some first serve winners to extend the lead to 4-1.  A strong service game from Pirazhenka saw her hold for 4-2, but she was unable to make any serious inroads into Ng’s last two service games, as the top seed served out the set without much fanfare to register a 6-2, 6-3, victory to claim her third career CRC Open ladies’ singles title.  Maggie Ng had previously defeated Ng Kwan Yau to win the 2013 and 2014 titles back-to-back.   

In the Schoolboys’ final, Walter Tam, who had earlier captured the under-14 boys’ singles, flew out of the blocks by breaking his opponent to love in the second game and quickly consolidated for a 3-0 lead.  Lee responded well by breaking back immediately to peg the score back to a more manageable 3-2.   However, Lee struggled with serve and in his next two service games committed several costly double faults to allow Tam to go on another three-game run to polish off the set, 6-2.

In the second, after Tam again broke serve in the second game to lead 2-0, Lee made an all-out effort to stop the bleeding and fought off five game points before Tam finally was able to hold on for 3-0.  After conceding serve with a pair of untimely double faults, Lee dug deep again and had three break points on Tam’s serve.  However, Tam survived by serving three timely aces in this game to eventually hold to lead 5-0.  Lee held to take proceedings to 5-1 but Tam was the better player today, as he duly held for a 6-2, 6-1, victory.

Tam is the 2017-19 under-10 champion, 2020-21 under-14 champion, and the 2022 under-16 champion at the Hong Kong National Junior Tennis Championships, while Lee is this year’s under-18 champion at the said event.

In the Schoolgirls’ final, Rosalyn Chan, the G14 and G16 age group winner at this year’s Nissin Hong Kong National Junior Tennis Championships, started off with a love break to cement a quickfire 2-0 lead.  At 4-2, Rosalyn broke again to lead 5-2 and served for the set.  However, Athena saved a set point and broke back for 5-3.  She then saved another pair of set points to hold for 5-4 before Rosalyn managed to serve it out to take the opener, 6-4.

In the ensuing set, it was Athena who drew first blood and broke first to go up 2-0.  Rosalyn had other ideas and went on a four-game run to stake herself a seemingly momentum shifting 4-2 lead.  To her credit, Athena thwarted Rosalyn’s two game point chances in the eighth game to eventually break her opponent to draw even at 4-4.  The players then exchanged another pair of breaks to take proceedings into a topsy-turvy tiebreak in which both sides had a number of mini-breaks but, in the end, it was Athena who took it by a close margin of 7-5 to force a decider.

After breaking each other to begin the third, Athena produced back-to-back service breaks to snatch the next four games on the trot to catapult herself to a whopping 5-1 advantage before Rosalyn finally held serve to halt the slide.  However, Athena was able to serve it out from 0-30 down to secure a hard-fought, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2 victory in three hours and eight minutes of play.

Earlier in her career at the Nissin Hong Kong National Junior Tennis Championships, Athena Yeung won the under-10 girls’ singles in 2017 and the under-12 girls’ singles in 2019.  In 2020, she finished runner-up in the under-14 girls’ singles to Ophelia Tang.

Results
CRC Open
Chinese Recreation Club
Oct 11-Nov 27, 2022

Men’s Singles
(1)Jack Wong d. (2)Kevin Wong 6-3 4-6 6-4

Ladies’ Singles
(1)Maggie Ng d. (2)Sviatlana Pirazhenka 6-2 6-3

Men’s Doubles
(2)Lee Hsin-Han/Steve Ng d. (1)Jack Wong/Kevin Wong 7-6(3) 6-3

Ladies’ Doubles
(2)Maggie Ng/Sviatlana Pirazhenka d. (1)Zhang Ling/Sher Chun Wing 6-3 6-2

Mixed Doubles
(1)Jack Wong/Maggie Ng d. (2)Sunny Yue/Nikita Tang 6-2 6-1

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