Liu pricks Korean, cops crown

MANILA, Philippines - Liu Shaozhuo of China capped her remarkable week in the $10,000 PLDT/Smart ITF Women’s Circuit Week 2 with an emphatic 6-1, 6-2 rout of Han Sung Hee of Korea to pocket the singles crown at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center yesterday.

Flaunting too much power and superb baseline game, Liu needed just an hour and 10 minutes to turn what was expected to be a close contest into a one-sided game for the fifth-seeded Tianjin native, who also toppled top ranked Elodie Rogge-Dietrich of France and No. 4 Yoo Mi, also of Korea.

Her win also spoiled the Koreans’ bid to sweep the first two weeks of the four-leg circuit hosted by the Philippine Tennis Association after Lee Ye Ra beat Yoo to bag the Holcim/ITF Women’s Circuit Week I last week.

The Korean pair of Han Na Lae and Yoo, however, took the doubles plum after beating former RP No. 1 Czarina Mae Arevalo and German Katharina Lehnert, 6-0, 6-3, late Friday in the event sponsored by PLDT/Smart, Holcim, Phinma and the ITF Grand Slam Developmetn Fund.

Meanwhile, the two-day qualifying rounds for the third ITF-sanctioned tournament will be today and tomorrow.