Kiwi stops Croat, secures tennis final

MANILA, Philippines - Third seed Cameron Norrie of New Zealand stopped the rampage of No. 1 Borna Coric of Croatia with a 6-3, 6-4 victory to secure a finals berth in the 24th Mitsubishi Lancer International Junior Championships yesterday at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

The world No. 21 Norrie pierced the veil of invincibility of  world No. 4 Coric, landing the bigger shots against the ace from Zagreb to pull off the straight-set semis triumph. 

Norrie, who only reached the Last-32 of  the Grade 1 netfest last year, seeks to go all the way in today’s boys’ singles finals against No. 4 Luke Bambridge of Britain.

Bambridge got an easy championship berth via a walk over triumph over No. 2 Omar Jasika of Australia. Tournament officials had sent Jasika home for “bad attitude,” sprouting from his action at the poolside of their hotel.

The top seeded player in girls’ singles, Ipek Soylu of Turkey played true to form and marched into the finale against giant-killer Katie Boulter of Britain.

Soylu, ranked 24th in the world, dispatched No. 11 Tomic Sara of Australia, 6-2, 6-3, while No. 13 Boulter upstaged third seed Nina Stojanovic, 6-3, 7-6(4).