Jones seals final clash vs Ukrainian

Top seed Sacha Jones of Australia went through the proverbial eye of the needle to overcome eighth pick Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland, 4-6, 6-0, 7-6 (7), and make the finals of the 17th Mitsubishi Lancer ITF Junior Circuit at the Rizal Tennis Center yesterday.

Jones, who also survived a tough three-setter against seventh seed Noppawan Lertcheewakarn of Thailand, 6-1, 1-6, 7-5, in the quarterfinals, needed tremendous stamina and strength to hurdle Voegele and set up a title showdown with second pick Khrystyna Antoniychuk of Ukraine.

Antoniychuk waylaid a big serving No. 3 Maya Gaverova, 6-3, 7-5, to get a shot at a second straight title following a victory in a Group 1 tournament in Bangkok, Thailand last week.

In the Thai capital, the 15-year-old Ukrainian looker downed Jones, 6-3, 6-2, in the semifinals before slamming Nicola Hofmanova of Austria, 6-3, 6-1, for the crown.

In boys’ play, No. 3 Lee Hsin-Han of Chinese Taipei ended Chinese qualifier Bai Yan’s giant-slaying ways with a 6-4, 6-4 win to set up a title showdown with No. 2 Sho Aida of Japan, a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 winner over unseeded Peng Hsien Yin of Chinese Taipei.

Bai claimed the scalps of top seed Sanam Singh of India and No. 6 James Lemke of Australia before being stopped by Lee in this event sponsored by Mitsubishi Lancer and backed by Accel, Wilson Balls and Traders Hotel.

Jones committed 15 double faults including eight in the deciding set that almost cost her the match.

But Jones, who topped a Group 1 event in Malaysia two weeks ago, kept her poise and composure, hammering clutch winners to finish off Voegelle in the tiebreaker.

Earlier, Antoniychuk teamed up with Hofmanova in a 6-2, 6-0 triumph over Yurina Koshino of Japan and Veronica Li of the US to arrange a title duel with the Chinese duo of Zhou Yi Miao and Guo Xuan Yu, who edged Fil-Am Denise Dy and Sandhya Nagaraj of India, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (11).

In boys’ doubles, Aida and Fumiaki Kita walloped Andrew Thomas of Australia and Johnny Hamui of the US, 6-4, 6-4, while Chinese Taipei’s Lee and Peng bested Yannick Thomet of Switzerland and Austen Childs of New Zealand, 7-5, 6-3, to advance to the finals.