Upsets order of the day in Lancer tennis

Tom Rushby of Great Britain, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark and Bianca Bonifante of Romania sent shockwaves down the Rizal Tennis Center by hurdling their seeded foes yesterday to share the limelight after the third round of the 15th Mitsubishi Lancer International Junior Tennis Championships.

Seeded ninth in this week-long event sanctioned as Group 1 by the International Tennis Federation, Rushby overcame a first set loss to topple top seed and world No. 5 Karan Rastogi of India, 1-6, 6-3, 6-1, for the biggest shocker of the day.

Wozniacki, seeded 14th, and Bonifante followed it up with a pair of surprises in the girls divisions as the two downed No. 3 Sanaa Bhambri of India, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, and sixth pick Hwang I-Hsuan of Chinese Taipei, 6-0, 6-2, respectively.

Wozniacki and Bonifante thus arranged a quarterfinal duel today while Rushby, ranked 47th in the world, faces eighth seed Australian Lachlan Ferguson, a 6-4, 6-3 winner over 14th pick Antal Van der Duim of the Netherlands in the boys’ quarterfinals.

It was also Ferguson who booted out the last of the Filipinos–14-year-old Kyle Joshua Dandan–with a closely-fought 7-6 (4), 7-5 win in Wednesday’s second round.

Rastogi, Bhambri and Hwang thus joined boys second seed Remko De Rijke of the Netherlands, who was the first biggest seed to bow out following a second round 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 loss to Tristan Nahon Farron of Ireland, out of the tournament.

The sensational Mahon Farron continued his run with a 6-4, 6-3 trouncing of Todd Ley of Australia that arranged him a quarterfinal collision with 11th seed Jamie Murray of Great Britain, who stunned No. 6 Divij Sharan of India, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Also booking seats in the round-of-eight were fourth pick William Ward of New Zealand, fifth seed Coen Van Kuelen of the Netherlands, No. 7 Tushar Liberhan of India and third pick Joel Kerley of Australia.

Ward walloped Sumu Wahyu Trijati, 6-4, 6-1; Van Kuelen edged Rupesh Roy of India, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2; Liberhan outlasted Philipp Oswald of Austria, 7-5, 6-3; and, Kerley smashed Victor Leonte of Romania, 6-0, 6-3.

Unlike in the boys’ side, the girls’ favorites–top seed Chan Yung-Jan and No. 2 Hsu Weh-Hsin both of Chinese Taipei–had little trouble making the next round.

Chan smothered Daniella Dominikovic of Australia, 6-1, 6-1, while Hsu had an easier time in bashing Hanne Skak Jensen of Denmark, 6-0, 6-0, to forge a quarters showdown with No. 8 Kim So Jung of Korea and fifth seed Tatjana Malek of Germany, respectively.

Also making the next round were Michaela Johansson of Sweden, who bested Yurika Sema of Japan, 6-1, 6-1, and Septi Mende of Indonesia, who defeated Chen Yi of Chinese Taipei, 7-5, 6-3.

This event is made possible by Mitsubishi Lancer, the Philippine Tennis Association, Philippine Sports Commission, Department of Tourism, Traders Hotel, Wilson Balls, Summit Natural Drinking Water and Drewberry cookies.