Russian lass, Aussie cop singles titles

MANILA, Philippines - Top seed Irina Khromacheva sent upset-conscious Tian Ran of China down to her knees with an emphatic 6-3, 6-2 victory yesterday to clinch the women’s title in the 21st Mitsubishi International Juniors Tennis Championships at the Rizal Tennis Center.

Unheralded Australian James Duckworth, for his part, emerged the boys’ champion after he made short work of No. 10 Tobias Blomgren of Great Britain, 6-3, 6-2, for the title, his second since reigning supreme in a tournament in Malaysia a week ago.

It was a fitting end for Khromacheva, ranked No. 6 in the world and top seed here, as she restored order to what was an upset-filled tournament backed by the Philippine Sports Commission, ACCEL, Century Park Hotel, Dunlop Sports and ITF Juniors Circuit.

The tall, long-legged Khromacheva imposed her will to end the giant-slaying ways of the unseeded Tian, who made it this far with shock wins over No. 5 Egi Hutaguchi of Japan, No. 14 Jennifer Ren of Great Britain and Luksika Kumkhum of Thailand in the semis. – Joey Villar