New Zealand No2 Dan King-Turner has kept local hopes alive after a strong win in the quarterfinals of the US$15,000 Pro Circuit tennis Futures in Hamilton.
King-Turner beat Australian Rameez Junaid in the ASB sponsored event 6-4 7-6(2) to advance to his first semifinal of the year. Junaid the winner of the last week’s tournament at North Harbour and a player ranked at 441was always going to be a tough competitor for King-Turner with the Australian having won their two previous encounters.
For King-Turner the win came on the back of his strong serving, holding for the entire match and the fact he managed to break Junaid’s serve once – the ninth game of the first set. Junaid hit a couple of uncharacteristic errors in the tie break and a couple of big serves helped King-Turner win the match.
“It was good to make it to the weekend for the semifinals. I’ve really started to play aggressively and it’s come off this week. I’m happy with everything right now, especially since I was concerned I wouldn’t be able to make it to Hamilton over the weekend as a result of my leg injury,” says King-Turner.
King-Turner who has a current ATP ranking of 459 now plays second seed Tatsuma Ito from Japan who is ranked at 333.
Earlier Tatsuma had used the nagging length of his shots to oust Kiwi No1 Rubin Statham 7-6(5) 6-4 with there being just one break of serve in the match as Ito broke Statham in the third game of the second set.
Tatsuma has now beaten three New Zealand players to make the semifinals – Oliver Statham, Marcus Daniell and Rubin Statham.
“I’ve watched him play all three Kiwis,” said King-Turner “He’s a tough competitor.”
The other men’s semifinal will be contested between top seed Catsten Ball(Australia) who beat China’s Shao-Xuan Zeng in three sets and will play Chinese Davis Cup player and qualifier Ze Zhang.
The women’s semis in the US$10,000 draw feature fifth seed Ling Zhang from Hong Kong who won last week at North Harbour against Indonesian Ayu-Fani DAmayanti and the world’s top junior Noppawan Lertcheewakarn(Thailand) against eighth seed Ayaka Maekawa(Japan).
Semifinals start at midday at the ASB Waikato Tennis Centre.
Results:
ASB Pro Circuit US$10,000 women’s singles quarterfinals:
(5)Ling Zhang(Hong Kong) bt (3)Montinee Tangphong(Thailand) 6-0 6-3, (4)Noppawan Lertcheewakarn(Thailand) bt (Q)Jessy Rompies(Indonesia) 6-1 6-0, (8)Ayaka Maekawa(Japan) bt (2)I-Hsuan Hwang(Taipei) 7-5 7-5, Ayu-Fani DAmayanti(Indonesia) bt (1)Sandy Gumulya(Indonesia) 6-2 2-2 retired.
ASB Pro Circuit US$15,000 men’s singles quarterfinals:
(1)Carsten Ball(Australia) bt Shao-Xuan Zeng(China) 4-6 6-4 6-3, (2)Tatsuma Ito(Japan) bt (8)Rubin Statham(New Zealand) 7-6(5) 6-4, Dan King-Turner(New Zealand) bt Rameez Junaid(Australia0 6-4 7-6(2), (Q)Ze Zhang(China) bt Yuichi Ito(Japan) 6-3 6-3.
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