Capadocia vies in HK ITF meet

MANILA, Philippines - Filipina netter Marian Jade Capadocia takes her act overseas as she competes in the Chevalier Hong Kong ITF Women’s Circuit Series 2013 over the next two weeks.

Fresh from scoring a three-peat in the PCA Open, the 18-year-old Capadocia vies in this weekend’s qualifying event of the $10,000 HK Week 3 tournament, where she is paired with top seed Abbie Myers of Australia in the opening round.

Capadocia would need to overcome Myers and then get past the winner between wildcard Siyu Chen of China and Chia Hsien Yang of Chinese-Taipei in the second round to clinch a spot to the main draw on Dec. 16-22.

The pride of San Jose, Antique is booked for the Yuletide season in the former Crown Colony as she also signed up for the qualifying phase of the $25,000 HK Week 4 that runs from Dec. 30-Jan. 5.

“My target is to make it to the main draw and reach at least the quarterfinals to earn ranking points in the WTA,” said Capadocia.

The former juniors star has turned pro this year. She hurdled the qualifying round of the $10,000 event in Maaseik, Belgium last July but lost by default to Hanna Landener of Germany in the opener of the main draw. Her biggest achievement came in doubles play as her partnership with Fatma al Nabhani of Oman got them to the semis in another $10,000 tourney in Alkmaar, the Netherlands last June.

“I’m really preparing hard for this WTA/ITF campaign because I know the level of competition is high and every game’s going to be tough,” she said.