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Saturday, January 31, 2009

Tennis : Kiwis in boys’ and girls’ finals at ITF Junior Tournament

Canterbury's Barrett Franks will face ex-Kiwi Sean Berman in the final of the SunSmart Canterbury ITF Junior event in Christchurch on Saturday morning.

After losing the first set to Japanese player Ryota Kishi, Franks then recovered to race through to his third ITF finals berth.

Berman was too strong for Maxime Chazal (FRA) in the other semi, setting up a clash of the two top seeds. The pair last met three years ago in the final of the National Hardcourt 14's in Auckland, Berman prevailing on that occasion in three sets.

New Zealand will also be represented in the girls' final after Leela Beattie, seeded 10th, used her powerful groundstrokes and accurate serve to overcome 5th seeded South African Natasha Fourouclas 7-6(4) 6-3.

In the final she will play unseeded surprise of the tournament Makoto Ninomiya from Japan. Ninomiya beat the 1st, 12th and 7th seeds on her way to her first final!

Both the boys and girls singles finals are scheduled for 9am at the Scenic Circle Hotels Tennis Centre at Wilding Park in Christchurch.

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