It was a high quality tennis lesson from a prodigy, that lasted 47 minutes as Hyeon Chung of Korea outplayed Vinod Gowda 6-0, 6-0 in the boys' semifinals of the ITF juniors grade ‘II' tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Friday.
On a chilly morning when heavy fog delayed the start of the match by about 45 minutes, the bespectacled and abundantly talented Hyeon spit fire with his explosive groundstrokes as he toyed with the only Indian left in the draw.
The domination of Hyeon, who recently won the under-16 title in the prestigious Orange Bowl, could be gleaned from the fact that Vinod held a gamepoint just once in the whole match.
Hitting delightful backhand down-the-line winners into the corner and stroking his forehand with felicity, Hyeon had the ability to accelerate his strokes whenever he wished. He came up with delectable drop shots and telling volleys against an opponent who looked equally good at the start but was forced to surrender as the match progressed.
Higher gear
Hyeon faced two breakpoints in his first service game, but went into a higher gear straightaway in saving those points, and conceded only four more points on his serve in the whole match.
It was only natural that Vinod tried to force his way through as the Korean was comfortably gliding into his strokes, but he slipped into a further spell of errors that hurried him to the exit.
Chung will attempt to win his second successive title, following the one last week in Chandigarh, when he takes on Albert Alcaraz Ivorra of Spain in the final on the morrow.
In the girls' semifinals, Oleksandra Korashvili saved half a dozen setpoints in the first set, four of them from 2-6 in the tie-break, to outwit top-seeded Mai El Kamash of Egypt.
She will face seventh-seeded Michelle Werbrouck of Belgium in the final.
The results:
Boys (semifinals): Hyeon Chung (Kor) bt Vinod Gowda 6-0, 6-0; Albert Alcaraz Ivorra (Esp) bt Naoki Nakagawa (Jpn) 6-4, 6-2.
Doubles (final): Hyeon Chung and Dukyoung Kim (Kor) bt Robert Dula (Cro) and Chi-Shan Jao (Tpe) 2-6, 6-4, 10-7.
Girls (semifinals): Oleksandra Korashvili (Ukr) bt Mai El Kamash (Egy) 7-6(6), 6-1; Michelle Werbrouck (Bel) bt Nina Stojanovic (Srb) 6-4, 6-4.
Doubles (final): Ksenija Sharifova (Rus) and Nina Stojanovic (Srb) bt Oleksandra Korashvili (Ukr) and Madrie Le Roux (RSA) 6-7(8), 6-2, 15-13.
