by Ian Marshall, Editor
Chen Yi and Kuai Man secured the cadet title without the loss of a single individual match at any stage of the competition but when you have a team that possesses the top two listed players on the current under 15 girls’ world rankings, Kuai Man being in top spot with Chen Yi the next in line, then you have a reasonable chance of success!
At the quarter-final stage they beat the French combination of Charlotte Lutz and Clea de Stoppelaire, before by the same 3-0 margin accounting for the United States pairing of Joanna Sung and Rachel Sung. A place in the final secured another convincing win ensued; the pairing on the receiving end being Romania’s Arina Singeorzan and Elena Zaharia.
Similarly, in the junior girls’ team event, it was a command performance from China but there was a hiccup.
A direct entry to the semi-finals, a 3-1 win was posted against the Polish trio formed by Anna Wegrzyn, Katarzyna Wegrzyn and Natalia Szymczyk, the player to cause the champions elect problems being Katarzyna Wegrzyn. In the second match of the engagement she beat Wu Yangxhen in three straight games (11-3, 11-5, 11-9).
Nevertheless, a place in the final booked, normal service resumed, a 3-0 win was recorded in opposition to the international trio formed by Amy Wang of the United States, Portugal’s Raquel Martins and Belgium’s Estelle Duvivier.
Attention now turns to the cadet girls’ singles, cadet girls’ doubles and hopes girls’ singles events; play concludes in Lignano on Sunday 24th March.
