Taiwanese, Briton rule int’l netfest

Chinese Taipei’s Chan Yung-Jan and Great Britain’s Tom Rushby turned back their opponents yesterday to rule their respective divisions in the 15th Mitsubishi Lancer International Junior Tennis Championships under the sweltering heat at the Rizal Tennis Courts.

Overcoming a hurting right leg, the top-seeded Chan rallied from a first-set loss to outlast countryman Hsu Weh-Hsin, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, topping the girls’ section of this week-long event sanctioned and rated Group 1 by the International Tennis Federation.

Rushby, seeded ninth here and ranked 47th in the world, had to go through a long second-set tiebreaker to blow away seventh pick Indian Tushar Liberhan, 6-4, 7-6 (8), in a match that took the Briton two hours to complete.

A night after teaming up with Hsu to cop the girls’ doubles title following a marathon 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-3 triumph over the Japanese duo of Yurika Sema and Fukui Megumi, the world No. 7 Chan got back to work but hurt her right leg in the process to drop the first set, the first she ever gave up the whole week.

But it did not stop the 14-year-old Taipei native from bucking the pain with sheer willpower to take the next two sets, the title and the 150 ITF points that goes with it.

"I hurt my right leg, maybe it got tired because we just won the doubles finals yesterday (Saturday)," said Chan. "But I motivated myself to win the second set and in the third set, I wasn’t thinking of my right leg anymore."

Chan, whose strength comes from her foot speed and powerful backhand, sealed his third title this year, the first two being Group 1 tournaments in Thailand and Malaysia.

Riding the crest of stunning victories over top seed and world No. 5 Karan Rastogie of India, No. 8 Lachlan Ferguson of Australia and fourth pick William Ward of New Zealand, Rushby appeared in control as he took the first set with an overpowering display of his forehand.

But the 17-year-old Liberhan, out to avenge his countryman Rastogi’s loss to Rushby, found a way to unnerve the Briton by seizing a 5-3 lead in the second set and the control to position himself for a chance to force a deciding third set.

Rushby, however, recovered his wits in time to take three of the next four games and force a tiebreaker he won after Liberhan double-faulted in the 17th game that shattered an 8-all tie. A crisp forehand volley finished the job and capped his amazing win streak.

"I really want to knock him off balance with my forehands but somehow the heat just got into me in the second set," said the 17-year-old Rushby, who went straight back home after the game.

"Yesterday, the heat didn’t matter. But today, it just affected my game, the reason why I almost lost the second set," he added.

Third seed Ferguson and Joel Kerley of Australia, for their part, topped the boys’ doubles after the fifth pick Dutch pair of Antal van der Duim and Coen van Kuelen retired with the game deadlocked at 7-5, 5-7, 2-2.