Philippines’ top junior netter AJ Lim bolstered his campaign this year after barging into the elite top 20 of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) junior rankings this week.
The 16-year-old Lim propelled from No. 31 last week to No. 19, owing to a runner-up finish at the Asian B1 ITF Pune Open Junior Tennis Championships held in India over the weekend.
He also made it to the doubles semifinals with Indian partner Nikshep Ballekere Ravikumar in the same tournament, which is rated one rung below the Grand Slams.
Still, his ranking was a few notches below his career-high of No. 12 he made last January after finishing in the quarterfinals of the 52nd Coffee Bowl in San Jose, Costa Rica and making into the main draw round for the first time at the Australian Open Juniors Championships.
So far, Lim has only participated in three tournaments for the last five months, but is looking forward to compete in high-ranked events to further improve his rankings.
Meanwhile, Treat Huey and Belarusian Max Mirnyi hardly broke a sweat at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome after their rival, South Africa’s Kevin Anderson and France’s Jeremy Chardy, retired, 6-3, 1-1 (ret.).