KUCHING: Being tall is an advantage in some sports and for Kiwi Briar Preston, height has certainly given her a lofty edge in the 15th Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup (I) ITF World Junior Tennis Championship (Group 1) here.

HEAD AND SHOULDERS ABOVE: Preston with The Borneo Post sports reporter Ting Tieng Hee (right) and See Hua Daily News photographer Davidson Kho after her second round match against Sanae Ota of Japan. Preston won 6-1, 6-0 yesterday. • Photo by Davidson Kho

The 17-year-old final year high school student, who is 188cm tall, towers over her opponents in the ongoing tournament.

“I agree being tall is an advantage.

“I have longer reach, stand higher above the net and can also make more smashes,” she said.

The 15th seed who received a bye in the first round, steamrolled Japanese qualifier Sanae Ota 6-1, 6-0 to make the third round yesterday.

“I love playing here. The facilities are good, the food is good but it will be ideal if we can have changing rooms for the players here,” she added.

Preston also played here last year but lost in the first round due to injury.

“All matches are tough and I will try my best to win here,” she said, adding that the win over Ota had boosted her confidence to go further in the competition.

The power girls from China were very impressive yesterday with four out of six players advancing to the third round.

Fourth seed Tang Hao Chen drubbed Russian Ksenya Gospodinova 6-1, 6-1; Yang Zi defeated India’s Natasha Palha 6-1, 4-6, 6-2; third seed Zheng Saisai overcame Jessica Ren of Great Britain 6-4, 6-2 and Tian Rant trounced Ilona Kremen of Belarus 6-2, 6-3.

Other players in the third round today include Thailand’s Luksika Kumkhum and Natpasakon Sankaew, India’s Rishika Sunkara, France’s Caroline Garcia, Serbia’s Jovana Jaksic and Tamara Curovic and Polina Pekhova of Belarus.