Favored bets halt upsets in Mitsubishi juniors tennis

MANILA, Philippines – Gloria Liang of Canada and Raveen Kingsley of the United States turned back unheralded Tami Grende of Indonesia, 6-4, 6-4, and Zheng Wushuang of China, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1, to end the rash of upsets that plagued the 25th Mitsubishi International Junior Championships at the Rizal Tennis Center Friday.

The pair of victories thus arranged an interesting a semifinal showdown between Liang and Kingsley, who are ranked 131st and 134th in the International Tennis Federation rankings and seeded 14th and 15th in this weeklong tournament, Saturday.

It also put an end to the giant slaying ways of Grende and Zheng, who have caught everyone's attention by stunning the big guns and making it this far.

Grende, ranked 158th, sent No. 10 Lizette Cabrera of Australia and No. 8 Freya Christie of Great Britain packing with 6-2, 6-3 and 5-7, 6-0, 6-2 victories while Zheng, ranked 183rd, ousted No. 7 Olivia Tjandramulla of Australia, 0-6, 7-6 (6), 6-0, and No. 12 Plobrung Plipuech of Thailand, in the second and third rounds.

Their big-winning ways ended in the quarters.

Top seed Katie Boultier of Great Britain fought for dear life in her third straight match and pulled off a 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 squeaker anew, this time against upset-conscious No. 9 Ye Qui Yu of China.

It was the third time that a match by Bloulter, the World No. 10, went the full, three-set distance after scraping past Rosie Cheng of New Zealand, 6-3, 1-6, 6-0, in the second round and No. 13 Maddison Inglis of Australia, 7-5, 0-6, 6-4.

The triumph forged Boulter an interesting semis duel with third pick Kimberly Birrell of Australia, who made short work of a tired and weary No. 5 Katrine Steffensen of the US, 6-3, 6-1.

Steffensen was a little worked out following a draining 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5) win over No. 11 Morgane Michiels of Belgium the day before although Birrell came off a three-setter herself after she disposed of No. 16 Marie Alexandre Leduc of Canada, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

In boys' action, Rhett Purcell of Great Britain eked out a pulsating 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4) win over Mandresy Rakotomalala of France in a battle of upset-conscious players that lasted two and a half hours.

Purcell – who trounced No. 11 Alexander Klintcharov of New Zealand, 6-0, 6-2, and No. 5 Chung Yunseng of South Korea, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 – thus moved into the semis where he will face off with No. 8 Bogdan Bobrov of Russia, a 7-6 (3), 6-3 winner over No. 3 Petar Conkic of Serbia.

No. 1 Harry Bourchier of Australia likewise faced rough sailing after surviving a gritty No. 7 Oh Chan Yeong of South Korea, 6-1, 2-6, 6-1 to arrange a semis match with No. 4 Kang Ku Keon also of South Korea, who bashed No. 6 Ly Nam Hoang of Vietnam, 6-3, 6-3.