‘Amazing' Yuliya and Ryo lift singles titles
KUCHING (April 28): Yuliya Perapekhina of Belarus enjoyed a great week of tennis here when she capped a double in the 42nd Premier Sarawak (l) ITF World Junior Tour J300 Kuching at the Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) Centre yesterday.
The ITF No. 95 and tournament 11th seed staged the biggest upset when she defeated ITF No. 40 and top seed Reina Goto of Japan in straight sets of 6-1, 6-4 in the one-hour girls singles final.
En route to the final, Yuliya had upstaged seventh seed Li Yuyao of China in the third round and 15th seed Lee Suha of South Korea in the last eight and ninth seed Anatasia Lizunova in the semi-final.
'I feel very happy to have achieved my target of winning the girls singles and it was amazing that l have been playing very well in every match and l played to win.
'Today's game is my best this week and this is the second time l completed a double win after the last in a J200 tournament in Tashkent. (It has been) one year that l didn't manage to win anything.
'I didn't do well at last week's J200 Kuala Lumpur where l lost in singles first round and doubles second round,' a delighted Yuliya told reporters after receiving her prizes from Deputy Minister of transport Dato Henry Harry Jenip.
A day earlier, Yuliya had won the girls doubles with Polina Kuharenko after beating Malika Amirgalieva (Kazakhstan) and Lee Hyunyee of South Korea 3-6, 6-3, 6-5 in the final.
Meanwhile, Ryo Tabata of Japan, who is ITF No. 35, lived up to his billing as top seed by outplaying 16th seed Arnav Paparkar of India 6-2, 6-2 in the boys singles final.
Also present were SLTA president Dato Patrick Liew, tournament director Douglas Telajan and organising committee members. 42nd Premier Sarawak (l) ITF World Junior Tour J300 Kuching
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