Ouyang Bowen of China and Miho Kowase of Japan won the boys and girls sections respectively in the Asian junior tennis championship at the R.K. Khanna Stadium here on Sunday.
The good crowd, that had braved the intense security, was thoroughly entertained by the high quality game. The all-round ability as well as Bowen and Kowase's hunger for success stood out.
Both exhibited the energy and willingness to stay in the rallies and let their opponents make the mistakes.
For their sheer patience and solid game, the champions richly deserved 180 ITF points that would catapult them up in the international rankings, helping them eye the Grand Slam entries with a huge sigh of relief.
It was an impressive performance from the second-seeded Bowen, as he did not lose a singles match in two weeks. He had beaten the same opponent, compatriot Wang Chuhan in the final last week at the same venue in three tougher sets.
The only difference this time was that Ouyang was presented the trophy in front of the crowd and television cameras instead of the referee's office! He had won 100 ITF points for his title last week in a draw of 32, as it was a grade ‘II' tournament.
The energetic left-hander, Bowen ran short of breath in the second set after having run away with the first set. The top-seeded Wang, quite the stylish player who opted to stay back in the rallies, rather than use his strength in the forecourt, jumped on the opportunity to even the contest.
However, in the decider, Wang dropped serve decisively in the sixth game, and was not allowed to come back into the match by Bowen who tightened his grip with a solid service game to go up 5-2.
Wang missed a gamepoint in the eighth game and eventually put a volley wide on matchpoint, to conclude the entertaining contest that spanned an hour and 40 minutes.
The girls' final was literally dictated by the ninth seeded Japanese against the erratic second seed, Tian Ran of China. Kowase ran away with the first set in 22 minutes, dropping a solitary game, when she got broken in the fifth game.
The Chinese fought better in the second set, as she was able to get a good grip over her game, but in her anxiety to go for the winners she made decisive mistakes.
After a flurry of breaks of serve, the second set meandered into the tie-break, in which the Japanese took a 5-2 lead and the Chinese was unable to cut her errors any further.
The results (finals): Boys: Ouyang Bowen (Chn) bt Chuhan Wang (Chn) 6-1, 3-6, 6-2.
Girls: Miho Kowase (Jpn) bt Tian Ran (Chn) 6-1, 7-6(4); Doubles: Eri Hozumi and Riko Sawayanagi (Jpn) bt Tian Ran and Zhu Lin (Chn) 7-5, 6-4.
