Teenager Willy Chan Lee made the biggest stride in her budding professional tennis career when she earned seven world ranking points for reaching the quarter-finals of the Taipei Women's Challenger.
Willy stopped Japan's Mayishi Takanawa 6-1, 6-3 in her opening match and followed it up with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Taiwanese Fan Chang to make the last eight.
The 19-year-old Hong Kong number one then came up against top-seeded South Korean Choi Young-ya in the quarter-finals and put up a game fight before going down 6-4, 1-6, 6-2. 'Willy put up a tremendous effort and she even gave the Korean girl a scare,' said Hong Kong coach Mark Bailey, pointing out that Choi is ranked 220th on the Women's Tennis Association chart.
'Willy got seven world ranking points, the most she has won in one tournament, and I'm expecting her world ranking to jump from 690 to about 520.' Willy is second seed in this week's Furama Hong Kong National Championships to former Chinese international Tang Min, who has been living here for more than two years.
Tang is ranked 126th in the world and would take over from Willy as Hong Kong's number one when she is eligible to represent the territory in next year's Federation Cup.