Aussies To Meet In ASB Pro Circuit Final

Two Australians will meet in the men’s final of the ASB Pro Circuit Tennis Futures at Albany Tennis Park, North Harbour after they were forced to move their semifinals indoors as a result of persistent rain.

 

Second seed Adam Feeney beat fourth seeded Russian Artem Sitak in a tight match 7-5 7-6(6) in the US$15,000 event where the tennis was way above the usual Futures standard. Sitak ranked at 410 is investigating becoming a New Zealand player and would add some depth to the small Kiwi contingent of professional players.

 

Twenty-three-year-old Feeney who has a current ranking of 379 but has been inside the world’s top-250 in singles and ranked at 100 in doubles will be the slight favourite against third seeded countryman Rameez Junaid 27, who has also been ranked highly in his career.

 

Junaid defeated unseeded Japanese player Yuichi Ito in a draw out contest 7-5 4-6 6-2 in two hours and 21 minutes and is now aiming for his third career Futures singles title. He has had good success in New Zealand previously having make the final at the Wellington Futures tournament last year.

 

Meanwhile the US$10,000 women’s final will be contested between sixth seed Ling Zhang of Hong Kong who is also targeting her third Futures singles title. Zhang, 19 with a ranking of 369 won the Wellington Futures title two years ago caused a minor upset with her 7-5 6-2 victory over top seed Sandy Gumulya(Indonesia).

 

Zhang will face second seed and her doubles partner, I-Hsuan Hwang from Taipei in the final after Hwang easily dispatched qualifier So-Jung Kim of Korea 6-3 6-0.

 

The women’s final will be held from 1pm on Sunday followed by the men’s singles final.

 

Men’s US$15,000 ASB Pro Circuit quarterfinal singles, North Harbour

(2)Adam Feeney(Australia) bt (4)Artem Sitak(Russia) 7-5 7-6(6)

(3)Rameez Juniad(Australia) bt Yuichi Ito(Japan) 7-5 4-6 6-2,

 

Women’s US$10,000 ASB Pro Circuit quarterfinal singles:

(2)I-Hsuan Hwang(Taipei) bt (Q)So-Jung Kim(Korea) 6-3 6-0

(6)Ling Zhang(Hong Kong) bt (1)Sandy Gumulya(Indonesia) 7-5 6-2