Eala gains quarterfinal berth in China Juniors tennis event

Ninth seed Michael Francis Eala II eliminated fifth seed Yanjie Zheng of China, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, on Thursday to reach the boys’ singles quarterfinal round of the China Junior at the Sichuan International Tennis Center in Chengdu province. (Pixabay photo)

MANILA — Ninth seed Michael Francis Eala II eliminated fifth seed Yanjie Zheng of China, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, on Thursday to reach the boys’ singles quarterfinal round of the China Junior at the Sichuan International Tennis Center in Chengdu province.

The 15-year-old Eala will be up against fifth seed Chen Dong of Australia, who won over No. 15 Yuguan Jin of China, 6-1, 6-2.

Meanwhile, tournament top seed Xinmu Zhou outplayed No. 13 Nikita Volonski of Australia, 7-5, 6-4, to arrange a quarterfinal meeting with unseeded compatriot Wenmao Li, who eliminated No. 11 Sida Zeng, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

Also booking quarterfinal round berths were No. 7 Runyu Zhao and No. 8 Bohua Dong.

Zhao defeated Jing Long Wei of the Netherlands, 6-4, 6-4, to advance against No. 16 Zhiyu Chen, who rallied past unseeded Haoyuan Huang, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Dong, on the other hand, prevailed over No. 10 Yamato Sueoka of Japan, 7-5, 6-2, to forge a quarterfinal showdown with No. 14 Thantub Suksumrarn of Thailand, who pulled off a 6-3, 6-4 upset win over third seed Shaoyun Liu.

In the doubles category, third seeds Eala and Sueoka lost to Yuquan Jin and Zekai Li of China, 6-4, 2-6 (7-10), in the first round.
Jin and Li downed Yu un Xie and Xingyu Zou, 6-4, 6-0, to advance in the quarterfinal round against fifth seeds Zhiyu Chen and Yanjie Zheng, 6-0, 6-4 winners over Zijiang Yang and Sida Zeng.

Top seeds Shaoyun Liu and Runyu Zhao, fourth seeds Darrshan Suresh of Malaysia and Nikita Volonski of Australia, and seventh seeds Natthayut Nitthithananont and Thantub Suksumrarn of Thailand also won their matches to earn quarterfinal slots.

Liu and Zhao conquered Wengmao Li and Yangxuan Li, 6-3, 3-6 (10-5) to advance against Yukun Wang and Xirui Xu, who stunned sixth seeds Chen Dong and Tai Sach of Australia, 6-4, 2-6 (10-4).

Suresh and Volonski trounced Chinese tandem Jiaji Wang and Zhan Zheng, 6-4, 6-4, to advance against Hong Kong’s Chun Lam and Chak Lam Coleman, who beat eighth seeds Guangsen Wen and Xinmu Zhou, 5-7, 6-3 (10-8).

Nitthithananont and Suksumrarn clobbered Chinese pair Zhong Yi and Yi Wei Zhang, 6-2, 6-4, to advance against Hanyi Liu and Xiao Shi, who turned back Hong Kong’s Marvin Mang Hin Lee and New Zealand’s Te Kani Williams, 2-6, 6-2 (10-8).

Eala is using the China Junior 5 tournament as tune-up for the Junior Davis Cup final qualifying round next month. Also competing in the Under-16 tournament set in Kuching, Malaysia on April 9-14 are Jose Antonio Tria and Matthew Anton Garcia.

Before the China Junior 5 event, Eala has competed in the Hong Kong ITF Juniors (Grade 4), China Junior 4 (Grade 3) and Cambodia ITF Juniors (Grade 5).