The Philippines’ top junior player AJ Lim recovered from a slow opening before beating third seeded Yuta Shimizu of Japan, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-3, yesterday in the Asian B1 ITF Pune Open Junior Tennis Championships in India.
The victory arranged Lim, 16, a championship duel with No. 8 Naoki Tajima of Japan, a 7-6 (3), 6-3 winner over seventh seed Anthony Jackie Tang of Hong Kong.
Lim, however, stumbled in the doubles semifinal with Indian partner Niskhep Ballekere Ravikumar at the expense of Japanese top seed Toru Horie and Yunosuke Tanaka, 6-1, 3-6, 10-7.
Horie and Tanaka eventually won the crown over Chinese second seed Lyu Chengze and Zhao Lingxi, 6-3, 6-4.
Unseeded Khim Iglupas, meanwhile, fell short of her own campaign in the girls’ singles and yielded to fifth pick and doubles partner Pranjala Yadlapalli of India, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Iglupas and Yadlapalli earlier bowed in the doubles quarters over Indian pair Zeel Desai and Nidhi Surapaneni, 2-6, 6-4, 13-11.