Venise set to serve up a milestone at junior open
Venise Chan Wing-yau was set to become only the second Hong Kong player to reach the quarter-finals of a junior grand slam event yesterday.
Venise, 16, and her doubles partner Lynn Phillipe, from Luxembourg, came from a set down to beat French pair, Cindy Chala and Victoria Larriere, 4-6, 6-2, 6-0, in the first round at Roland Garros (The French Open) on Tuesday.
That win set up a round of 16 showdown yesterday evening with number seven seeds, Raluca-Ioana Olaru and Amina Rakhim.
The winner of this match will go on to face either Alisa Kleybanova and Evgeniya Rodina of Russia or top seeds Agnieszka Radwanska and Caroline Wozniacki in the last eight today.
The last player from Hong Kong to get to the quarter-finals of a junior grand slam was Brian Hung Lap-hei in 2003, when he teamed up with Robert Smeets of Australia in the boys' doubles at the Australian Open Junior Championships.
Venise's Hong Kong teammate Zhang Ling, 16, with partner Denise Dy from the Philippines, suffered a first-round loss to Ksenia Palkina and Dominice Ripoll, 6-4 7-6.
Meanwhile, in the girls' singles, Venise's conqueror in round two, world number one Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, has moved on to the quarter-finals after seeing off number 16 seed Teliana Pereira of Brazil 6-4, 6-0.
Pavlyuchenkova took her opportunities against Venise, as the Russian converted five of seven break-point chances to defeat the local girl, 6-3, 6-1.
The reigning Australian Open junior champion had 22 winners, compared to nine for Venise. Venise, however, guaranteed herself 30 ranking points for her effort in Paris ahead of the girls' doubles.
