CHAMPIONS. Filipino Matthew Anton Garcia (right) and Thai Tanapatt Nirundorn won the first leg of the Sri Lanka International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior Circuit in Colombo last week. (Contributed photo)
MANILA -- Matthew Anton Garcia and partner Tanapatt Nirundorn of Thailand stayed on course to another doubles title after reaching the semifinal round of the Sri Lanka International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior Circuit Week 2 at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association courts in Colombo.
Garcia and Nirundorn defeated wild cards Luca Emanuel Knese of Germany and Kavisha Ratnayake of Sri Lanka, 6-2, 6-4, in the only doubles match played on Wednesday.
In Thursday's quarterfinal round results, Nan Hsun Lin and Kai Shiang Yang of Chinese Taipei rallied past Rudra Kapoor of India and Baolo Zheng of China, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (1), [10-6]; Tim Thomas Gauntlett of Hong Kong and Brandon Suryana of Indonesia stunned third seeds Jian Keong Takeshi Koey of Malaysia and Boopathy Sakthivel of India, 7-6 (6), 6-3; and Hyeong Jin Kim and Sunwoo Kim of South Korea outplayed Nauvaldo Jati Agatra of Indonesia and Yu Shiang Huang of Chinese Taipei, 6-3, 7-5.
Friday's semifinal matches will feature Garcia and Nirundorn against Lin and Yang, and Gauntlett and Suryana against the Kim HJ and Kim S.
Garcia and Nirundorn made it to the quarterfinal round after eliminating top seeds Prasanna Pravin Bagade and Kushan Shah of India, 6-1, 6-3, in the first round last Tuesday.
Last week, Garcia and Nirundorn won the doubles title over Subash Paramasivam of India and Arjun Sriram of United States, 6-2, 6-1. They beat second seeds Tejasvi Mehra and Sandeep VM, 6-2, 7-6 (7), to reach the finals.
Garcia is the only son of national tennis champion Dyan Castillejo. He is a 10th grade student at Brent International School and is training under coach Marc Reyes for two years now.
Garcia debuted in the ITF Junior Circuit last year, reaching the doubles quarterfinals with Japanese Tsubasa Koga at the Canberra Junior International in September. His first tournament this year was in Hong Kong. (PNA)
