WAYNE WONG Wing-lun and Tong Ka-po have earned a trip to Australia next month for winning the boys' and girls' titles in the Nike Hong Kong Tennis Junior Championships. The tournament for 12-to 16-year-old players offered the two champions the opportunity to join youngsters from nine other Asian countries for the Nike International Tennis Camp during the Australian Open from January 8 to 16. Fourteen-year-old Wayne, winner of the schoolboys' event at the recent Chinese Recreation Club Open championships, pulled off a major upset when he defeated top-seeded Jason Sankey for the boys' crown. Jason, who has been named to join the Hong Kong Davis Cup squad next year, was strongly favoured to demolish the entire boys' field but an injury had kept him away from training recently. His lack of match practice showed and second-seeded Wayne capitalised on his superior fitness in the tense energy-sapping three-set final for a 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (10-8) victory. 'My idol is Pete Sampras and I hope to meet him at the training camp,' said an excited Wayne, noting that the American world number one was one of the top professionals offering tips at this year's coaching seminar. Ka-po had a much easier passage to the girls' title as she swept to straight sets victories in every match, including a convincing 6-2, 6-4 win over fourth-ranked Natalie Banday in the final. Natalie had shown solid form leading into the final with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over second-seeded Yan Sin-man. She tried hard to lift her game in the title match, but 14-year-old Ka-po proved she is undoubtedly the undisputed girls' under-16 champion of Hong Kong as she controlled the pace and won most convincingly. Ka-po's triumph fully underlined her potential as one of the best in her age category within Asia. Last month, she humbled a classy international field to win the under-16 title in the SPEX 200 Age Group Championships in Singapore. Among her victims in the Singapore event were Malaysia's number one and two girls, Tam Yan Lin and Evonne Tan. 'This tournament fully demonstrated that we have some very bright young players in the making,' said Janet Hardisty, the sport executive of the Hong Kong Tennis Association. 'And we have had some very interesting and high-quality matches. 'They will receive coaching from some of the very top professionals taking part in the Australian Open.'
