Indon, Chinese netters pull off upsets in Mitsubishi juniors tennis

MANILA, Philippines – Unheralded Tami Grende of Indonesia and Zheng Wushuang of China continued their giant-slaying ways, eking out shock victories Thursday to barge into the girls' division quarterfinals of the 25th Mitsubishi International Junior Tennis Championships at the Rizal Tennis Center.

Grende, ranked only 158th in the world, pulled the rug from under eighth seed Freya Christie of Great Britain, 5-7, 6-0, 6-2, while Zheng, ranked even lower at 183rd, sent No. 12 Plobrung Plipuech of Thailand packing with a 6-2, 7-6(5) victory.

It was the second seeded players Grende and Zheng eliminated after the former slew No. 10 Lizette Cabrera of Australia, 6-2, 6-3, and the latter tamed No. 7 Olivia Tjandramulia, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2, the day before.

The stunning wins arranged Grende a duel with the winner between No. 4 You Xiaodi of China and Raveena Kingsley of the United States while Zheng will take on the victor between No. 2 Greetje Minnen of Belgium and No. 14 Gloria Liang of Canada, both being played as of posting time.

Upsets also kept rocking the men's side after unseeded Rhett Purcell surprised No. 5 Chung Yunseong in a gripping 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 triumph to add to his growling list favored victims.

Purcell, ranked 134th in the world, also caught a seeded foe after trouncing No. 11 Alexander Klintcharov of New Zealand, 6-0, 6-2, and will tangle with fellow giant-slayer Mandresy Rakotomala of France in the quarters.

Rakotomala, who sent shockwaves down the tournament area after he brought down No. 2 Ken Oishi of Japan Wednesday, 6-4, 6-1, advanced after downing Jack Van Slyke of Canada, 6-3, 7-6 (3).

Top seed Harry Bourchier of Australia restored order after he waylaid No. 14 Teeradon Tortrakul of Thailand, 6-2, 7-5, to forge a round-of-eight duel with No. 7 Oh Chan Yeong of Korea, who edged Shamal Dissanayake of Sri Lanka, 7-5, 6-4.

Also making it through the quarters were No. 4 Kang Ku Keon of Korea, No. 6 Ly Nam Hoang of Vietnam, No. 8 Bogda Bobrov of Russia and No. 3 Petar Conkic of Serbia.

Kang bested Sameer Kumar of the US, 6-1, 6-2; Ly slammed No. 9 Zheng Weiqiang of China, 6-3, 6-1; Bobrov walloped Lee Kuan Yi of Chinese Taipei, 6-2, 6-2; and Conkic nipped No. 15 Lin Liang Yu Richard of Taipei, 6-3, 6-3.