Indonesia's Tio Juliandi Hutauruk in action during yesterday's boys' doubles quarter-finals at the 49th ITF Junior Circuit. BT/Syarif Rasani
It was a day of mixed fortunes for the top seeds at the 49th International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior Circuit yesterday after Nawakam Khunjan progressed to the quarter-finals while Kwan Yau Ng was sent packing.
The boys' singles top seed, Thailand's Khunjan outplayed Chinese Taipei's unseeded Chien Chief Hung 7-5, 6-0 to qualify for the last-eight, though Kwan, his counterpart in the girls' singles, crashed out of the competition after a shock 6-3, 6-0 defeat at the hands of 15th seed Qi-Li Ma from China.
Khunjan is scheduled to take on unseeded Italian Samuele Ramazzotti at center court at the National Tennis Centre of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports Complex in Berakas at 9am today.
Ramazzotti secured his spot after a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 win against Japan's unseeded Toru Horie.
The remaining quarter-finals will see 11th seed Katsuya Ikezoi from Japan go up against 14th seed Yu-Chang Wang from Chinese Taipei and 13th seed Yousuke Watanuki from Japan go head-to-head with Indonesia's unseeded Muhammad Iqbal Anshori.
The last quarter-final will see second seed Shohei Chikami from Japan clash with 12th seed Tin Chen from Chinese Taipei.
Qi's win sets her a date with Japan's unseeded Sakura Yonehara, who secured her spot in the last-eight through a 7-6 (4), 6-4 win against 10th seed Nidhi Surapaneni from India.
The remaining matches will see sixth seed Khim Iglupas from Phillipines take on Korea's unseeded Eun Se Jang, 12th seed Yang Lee from Chinese Taipei go up against fellow unseeded national Pei Ju Hsieh, and second seed Yi-Chi Ma from Chinese Taipei take on 11th seed Mihika Yadav from India.
Top seeds in the boys' doubles, Indonesians Anthony Susanto and Tio Juliandi Hutauruk moved on to the semi-final after defeating fifth seeds Achad Imam Maruf from Indonesia and Chanudom Wiriyajanyong from Thailand 7-6, 4-6, 10-6.
The duo are no new faces to Brunei as they both reached the final of the 48th edition with different partners in December.
Hutauruk paired up with Indonesia's Achmadi Prayoga as the second seeds walked away with the title after a 6-2, 6-4 win over top seeds Susanto and Christian Alvin Edison.
Susanto and Hutauruk started off on the right foot by taking an early 3-1 lead in the first set yesterday.
The pace changed quickly when Achad and Wiriyajanyong fought back to draw the match at 4-4, 5-5 and 6-6 before losing the first set.
The play between the two pairs proved to be similar before Achad and Wiriyajanyong took off to win the set 6-4.
However, the Indonesian duo's energy multiplied as the final set kicked off.
They went on to take an early 5-2 lead, putting pressure on Achad and Wiriyajanyong to try and catch up.
Their control continued seeing them further the gap to 8-4 before taking the match.
Susanto felt that the clash was the toughest so far in their three boys' doubles matches, but is confident his partnership with Hutauruk will pay fruit .
"In our first game we won 6-2, 6-4 and in the second game we won 6-2, 6-2, making today the hardest," Susanto told The Brunei Times.
"I think we are good partners and can win the final this year because we know each other.
"The tournament is a lot harder than December's because this is a Grade 4 competition," added Susanto.
Their coach Ryan Tanujoyo believed that his players did a good job on the court.
"They played well but I think they were both tired because they both played in the boys' singles," said Tanujoyo.
Susanto, who is seeded number four in the boys' singles, was knocked out 6-2, 6-4 by 14th seed Wang while Hutauruk, who was seeded sixth, went down 6-2, 6-3 to 12th seed Chen.
"Overall I am happy with them but the main problem for them is the weather because it's very hot here," added Tanujoyo.
Action will continue today with the semi-finals for the boys' and girls' doubles starting after 2.30pm.
Susanto and Hutauruk will face fourth seeds Nawakarn Khunjan and Vorachon Rakpuangchon from Thailand.
The other semi-final will see an all Chinese Taipei battle with eighth seeds Tim Chen and Chung Han Tsai taking on unseeded Kuo-Heng Cheng and Yu-Chang Wang.
Top seeds in the girls' doubles, Japan's Miyo Kobayashi and Chinese Taipei's Ma take on sixth seeds Tzu-Hui Chen and Pei Ju Hsieh - both from Chinese Taipei.
Seventh seeds Melisa Bekirova from Uzbekistan and Sakura Yonehara from Japan will face the fifth seeds from Chinese Taipei, Qi and Yang Lee
