Sipaeya enters Asian jr tennis final

India's hopes in the Asian junior tennis championships were kept alive as top seed Sunil Kumar Sipaeya edged past Wang Cheng Hsieh of Chinese Taipei to enter the singles final at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association courts on Friday.

In the other boys' semi-final, fifth seed Tai Wei Liu of Chinese Taipei drubbed his country mate Yu-Da Shieh 6-2, 6-0.

Braving a stiff back, Sipaeya employed his solid baseline game to oust his fourth seeded Taipei rival 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) in a gruelling one-hour-and-ten-minute battle.

"Hseih was a tough opponent and I had to fight hard, especially in the second set. Though my backache troubled me in the beginning, I am happy that I could overcome it and win the match," a beaming Sipaeya said.

A dominant Sipaeya broke his opponent's serve in the second, sixth and eighth games, using blistering returns and exquisite passing shots on either flanks of the court, to bag the first set 6-2.

With both players giving little away, the second set ended in a neck and neck tie-break.

In the exciting tie-break, Sipaeya held his nerve to achieve the crucial break, and earn a final berth, when his opponent hit a forehand wide of the baseline.

The lone Indian challenge in the girls' section ended with Sanaa Bhambri going down meekly 0-6, 2-6 to second seed Da-Jung Hong from Korea.

Hong will now have a final clash with Chinese Taipei girl Chin Wei Chan, who drubbed fourth seed Pichaya Laosirichon from Thailand 6-3, 6-1 in another semi-final.

Earlier reports:
Sipaeya in semi-finals
Sania Mirza upset
Tushar Liberhan shines
Rohan Gajjar upset in Asian junior tennis