KUCHING: Eighth seed Pakistan pulled off the biggest upset of day 4 in the ITF World Tennis Junior Team Competition U14 (Boys) Asia/Oceania Final Qualifying held at Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) Centre on Thursday as they defeated second seed Australia by 2-1.
In the first singles’ match, Abubakar Talha put in a strong performance in the first set against Taiki Takizawa and took the lead by 6-4.
He shifted up a gear in the second set and took a 3-0 lead before Takizawa fell down and broke his wrist and unfortunately had to retire from the match which gave Pakistan the lead.
In the second singles’ match, Cooper Kose, with pressure on his shoulder, pulled one back for Australia as he easily dispatched Hamza Roman by 6-1, 6-2 in 53 minutes.
With the tie tied at 1-1, Hamza Roman and his compatriot Abubakar Talha rallied and pulled off the surprise victory over Cooper Kose and Anthony Baker Nikolas by 6-1, 6-4 to book themselves a spot in the grand finals held in August in Czech Republic.
Pakistan will now face fourth seed Hong Kong in the semi-final on Friday as the Hong Kongers took down the unseeded Thailand by 2-1.
RyuKotikula first secured the lead for the Thais as he defeated Choi Fu Wang by 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
With their backs against the wall, Tam Sin Hang of Hong Kong pulled one back for his nation by taking out Dharma Pantaratorn 6-4, 6-0 in the second singles’ match.
With a ticket to the grand finals on the line, Choi and Tam prevented an upset by defeating Thailand’s Kotikula and his compatriot Kanthat Surarityotin by 7-6(3), 6(0)-7, [10-5] after super tiebreakers.
Meanwhile, first seed South Korea also had to come from behind to secure a 2-1 victory against the unseeded Chinese Taipei.
Cho Min Hyuk first lost the opening singles action against Mao Kuan Huai by 4-6, 3-6.
Kim Won Min rallied back in the second singles’ match by defeating Chen Hung Jui by 6-4, 6-2 before he teamed up with his fellow teammate Kim Dong Min to secure the semi-final spot by defeating Lee Jia Ying and Mao by 6-4, 6-2.
The South Koreans will face their neighbouring country Japan in the semi-final as the third seed Japanese took out seventh seed Kazakhstan by 2-1.
