Malaysian survivor Assri finally comes undone in second round

KUCHING: Sole Malaysian survivor Mohd Assri Merzuki failed to sustain some early brilliant play and was knocked out of the 15th Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup (I) ITF World Junior Tennis Championship (Group 1) here yesterday.

THERE GOES THE GAME PLAN: A medical personnel attends to Assri after he suffered an injury during the second round singles match against Dane Webb of the US in the 15th Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup (I) ITF World Junior Tennis Championship (Group 1) at the SLTA centre. Assri lost 7-5, 3-6, 1-6 yesterday. • Photo by Davidson Kho

The 15-year-old Sarawakian’s march to the third round was halted by Dane Webb of US who came from a first set loss and 0-30 down in the second to turn the tables with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 victory.

Assri made a good start before folding up due to what appeared to be a leg injury. He took the first set and looked well on his way with a comfortable 3-0 lead in the second when his game began falling apart.

Assri, who beat Jamaica’s Brandon Burke 6-3, 7-6 in the first round on Tuesday, was subsequently seen receiving side-court treatment.

In the third set, he was no longer moving freely, allowing his opponent an easy passage to round three with the loss of only one game.

There is some consolation though for Assri. He is the first Malaysian to advance to the second round of the ITF group one tournament.

“It was a pity Assri got injured today. If he had entered the third round … he could have earned more ITF ranking points,” Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association president Patrick Liew said.

“Assri has the skills and stamina but he needs to polish them,” he added.

He said the development programme for Assri must continue and the association would appeal to the private sector and the government for support.

“Development is a continuous process and overseas players are so committed in their training programme that they skip school and delay their studies or graduation,” he added.

In the other second round singles, top seed Mate Zsiga of Hungary and third seed Dominic Thiem of Austria made shock exits to unseeded opponents.

Zsiga, who received a bye in the first round, lost 6-7 (3), 4-6 to Timur Neymatov of Russia while Thiem was beaten 6-1, 7-6 (5) by Mitchell Krueger of the US.

However, second seed John Morrissey of Ireland had no trouble seeing off Thailand’s Nuttanon Kadchapanan 6-2, 6-3 win while fourth seed Francis Casey Alcantara of the Philippines ousted Adam Lee of New Zealand 6-3, 7-5.

Those who also advanced to the third round included Campbell Johnson (US), Tobias Blomgren (Sweden), James Duckworth (Austria), Leonard Stakhovsky (Ukraine), Wang Chuhan (China), Darian King (Bahrain), Andrew Whittington (Australia) and Matthias Wunner (Germany).

In the boys doubles, the Chinese pair of Cao Zhaoyi and Wang Chuhan made a winning start, beating Americans Shaun Bernstein-Campbell Johnson 6-3, 6-4.

More doubles matches were being played as at 5.30pm.