Zheng's amazing race continues

Top seed in qualifying and got through into main draw, 15 years old Zheng Sai Sai of China has been in good form and she is remaking her "amazing race" like at ITF Grade 4 tourney in Surabaya last November when she went all the way from qualifying to be the champion. In today's semi-final she defeated sixth seed Katherine Westbury of New Zealand 6-4, 6-3. By reaching final here at ITF Grade 2 tourney now entitled "Indonesia International Junior Championships", she is indeed stunning as she is only playing her fifth tourney of her career and her first time of entering ITF Grade 2. It will be her third final appearance after Surabaya last November and Hong Kong ITF Grade 5 last January then she is surely aiming big for taking the second career title tomorrow.

En route to final, Zheng has eliminated three seeds such as (7) Grace Sari Ysidora, (4) Natchanok Saenyaukhot and today (6) Katherine Westbury. In the final, Zheng will challenge eighth seed Juan Ting-Fei of Chinese Taipei. In the other last four round battle, Juan ruined local last hope, unseed Laili Rahmawati Ulfa 6-2, 6-2. Same as her opponent, Juan will taste her maiden ITF Grade 2 final tomorrow. Now, Juan is leading 2-0 against Rahmawati. In their first meeting at ITF Grade 4 in Brunei last year, Juan barely defeated Rahmawati 7-5, 7-6(4). Juan will try to claim her third career title after she collected two titles of ITF Grade 4 tourneys in Brunei and her home country. I am not surprised to know that Juan is in the final. After all, she finished in round 16 at "Loy Yang Power Traralgon International" last January, an ITF Grade 1 tourney held in Victoria, Australia. Will she be another winner from Chinese Taipei after Chan Yung-Jan and Hsu Wen-Hsin here in the capital of endless traffic-jams or will China's Great Wall Zheng follow the path of Zhou Yi-Miao of China?

In the boys' singles, semi-finals featured the battle of second seed Huang Liang-Chi from Chinese Taipei who overcame fierce challenge from fourth seed Austrian Maximilian Neuchrist 6-4, 7-6(4). Huang's final tomorrow will be his second ITF Grade 2 final appearance as he did it last July in South Africa. Meanwhile, Huang's best outcome of his career was earned at "Osaka Mayor's Cup" an ITF Grade A tourney in Osaka, Japan last October when he finished as quarter-finalist.

Huang will clash with third seed Dominik Schulz of Germany in the final. A Munich resident, Schulz edged out unseed Canadian Zachary White 6-3, 6-2 in the other last four round match. Schulz is eyeing for his second title of ITF Grade 2 level as he won his first one in Spain almost a year ago. This German lefty yet hitting two-handed backhand achieved his best performance of his career as semi-finalist at "Optus Nottinghill International" another ITF Grade 1 tourney held in Glen Waverley, Victoria, Australia last January.

Semi-finals - Results of Boys' Doubles & Girls' Doubles:

(4) Samuel Barry/Zachary White (IRL/CAN) d (1) Maximilian Neuchrist/Dominik Schulz (AUT/GER) 6-4, 4-6, 10-8
(3) Huang Liang-Chi/Vaidik Munshaw (TPE/IND) d (2) Hsieh Cheng-Peng/David Agung Susanto (TPE/INA) 6-1, 6-4

(1) Beatrice Gumulya/Kanyapat Narattana INA/THA d (4) Prang Pantusart/Kobkanok Upapong (THA/THA) 6-3, 4-6, 10-7
Dong Xiaorong/Yang Zhaoxuan (CHN/CHN) d (2) Denisa Allertova/Monika Tumova (CZE/CZE) 6-3, 4-6, 10-7