Lim cruises to ITF semis; Jones falls

MANILA, Philippines - Top seed Filipino Albert Lim Jr. waylaid seventh seed Charles Roberts of Thailand, 6-2,6-2, to cruise to the semifinals but Fil-British Meredith Jones fell by the way in the Ajay Pathak Memorial Cup ITF 14-Under Developmental Championship Division I yesterday at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

The 13-year-old Lim continued to flash fine form to preserve his run in the tournament, dropping just two games in ousting Roberts while arranging a Final Four duel with fifth ranked Parikshit Somani of India, who bundled out unranked Lee Wai Leuk of Hong Kong, 6-0, 6-4.

No. 2 Vorachon Rakpuangchon of Thailand likewise breezed his way through with an emphatic 6-2, 6-3 win over unseeded Vashisht Cheruku of India. 

Rakpuangchon will take on No. 3 Sou Ming Chun Alan of Hong Kong, who turned back No. 6 Nitin Kumar Sinha of India, 6-4, 7-5.

“I hope to win more games,” said Lim, out to live up to the hype in the event sponsored by the ITF Grand Slam Development Fund and the Philippine Tennis Academy.

The eighth seeded Jones, meanwhile, failed to duplicate Lim’s feat as she fell to No. 4 Jang Eunse of Korea, 6-1,6-2, in the tournament supported by the Philippine Sports Commission, Technifibre Balls, Wilkins, Mariposa Foundation, Cebuana Lhuillier, Chowking and Trans-Asia Corp.

Jang goes for a finals slot against No. 6 Ren Jiaqi of China, who pulled off a minor upset against No. 2 Mihika Yadav of India, 6-4, 7-6 (6).