Junior men's team cruises to c'ship

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian junior men's team clinched world junior tennis championship final berths after they defeated the Japanese 2-1 in the quarterfinals of the Asia Oceania qualifying tournament here on Friday.

Antara reported that Al Imron/Harris Ernanda sealed the national's team victory after they beat Japanese Yusuke Iwahashi/Hiroya Kumada 6-0, 0-6, 6-4 in the final round.

Harris, the first single, lost to Yusuke 2-6, 3-6 but Imron managed to retaliate in the second round by defeating Hiroya 6-4, 6-2.

With this result, Indonesia will meet South Korea in the semifinals, but any result will not affect Indonesia in the final round in the Czech Republic in August.

South Korea entered the semifinals after defeating Hong Kong 2-1. Australia and Taiwan also entered the semifinals by overwhelming Thailand 3-0 and India 2-1 respectively.

The Indonesian junior women's team, however, failed to secure a place among the 11 rankings after it lost to Japan 1-2. (ivy)