The run of Dan King-Turner came to a sudden halt in the semifinals of the tennis Futures in Hamilton as Japan’s Tatsuma Ito became the Kiwi destroyer scoring his fourth consecutive victory over New Zealand players in a row.
Second seed Tatsuma ranked at 333 beat the 459th King-Turner 6-3 6-0 in just 49 minutes in the ASB Pro Circuit US$15,000 draw to make the final against top seed Carsten Ball of Australia.
Tatsuma’s run of wins against Kiwis includes a three set triumph over Oliver Statham, straight sets versus Marcus Daniell, then Rubin Statham followed by King-Turner who was strangely passive and off key in his game after being aggressive in his run to the semis.
King-Turner will now try for the title at the third week of the circuit starting in Wellington on Tuesday.
Tatsuma will have to continue his nagging length in the final against Ball who is ranked at 193, is an Australian Davis Cup team member and has a massive serve with plenty of talent to burn, but can lapse in concentration at times. In his semis Ball defeated Chinese Davis Cup player Ze Zhang 6-1 6-4.
The women’s US$10,000 final will be contested between world No1 junior and tournament fourth seed, Thai, Noppawan Lertcheewakan 17 accounted for eighth seed Ayaka Maekawa(Japan) 6-3 6-2 and unseeded Ayu-Fani Damayanti(Indonesia) who beat Hong Kong player and fifth seed Ling Zhang, the winner of last week’s event 7-6(6) 6-1.
Lertcheewakan will be the favourite for the title after having already excelled at Challenger level, including winning one title at that level.
Results:
ASB Pro Circuit US$10,000 women’s singles semifinals:
Ayu-Fani Damayanti(Indonesia) bt (5)Ling Zhang(Hong Kong) 7-6(6) 6-1, (4)Noppawan Lertcheewakarn(Thailand) bt (8)Ayaka Maekawa(Japan) 6-3 6-2.
ASB Pro Circuit US$15,000 men’s singles semifinals:
(1)Carsten Ball(Australia) bt (Q)Ze Zhang(China) 6-1 6-4, (2)Tatsuma Ito(Japan) bt Dan King-Turner(New Zealand) 6-3 6-0.
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