Canada’s Gibson dominates Thai foe, enters quarters in Philta international juniors netfest

MANILA, Philippines — Top seed Jay Lin Gibson of Canada defeated qualifier Puchit Sukjai of Thailand, 6-2, 6-2, Wednesday to reach the boys' singles quarterfinals in the Coca-Cola Philta International Juniors at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

Gibson will next meet sixth seed Koki Nara of Japan, who rallied past Filipino John Kendrick Bona, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. 

Second seed Hao-Yu Lin and fourth seed Xiao Feng Zhou of Chinese Taipei also made it to the next round along with fifth seed Filipino Miguel Iglupas.

Hao-Yu outplayed Ethan Matthew Koh of Singapore, 6-4, 6-2, to advance against No. 8 Takahiro Kawaguchi of Japan, who survived Ryu Kotikula of Thailand, 7-5, 7-6 (3).

Zhou clobbered Shun Wakino of Japan, 6-1, 6-0, to forge a second-round showdown with No. 7 Connor McEvoy of Australia, who demolished Filipino Alfonso Javier Infante, 6-1, 6-0.

Iglupas, on the other hand, conquered Korean Min Seungjun, 6-1, 6-0, to advance against No. 3 Ren Matsumura, who blanked Perawat Sukjai of Thailand, 6-0, 6-0.

In the girls singles, Korean Park Seojin ousted fifth seed Naomi Hagi of Hong Kong, 7-5, 6-0, to reach the quarterfinals.

Also advancing were No. 1 Oh Jiyun and unseeded Choi Soo Young of Korea, and No. 4 Yu Tsen Ko of Chinese Taipei.

Oh beat Shinar Zahra Shukayna Heriyadi Sunggoro of Indonesia, 6-1, 6-2; Choi defeated Pimlaphat Lim of Thailand, 6-2, 6-1; and Yu downed Du Ruihan of China, 6-1, 3-6, 7-5.

Meanwhile, top seeds Zhou and Hao-Yu, second seeds Matsumura and Yoshito Oda, third seeds Nara and Kawaguchi, and Fu Wang Choi of Hong Kong and Luke Jie Xi Ho of Singapore earned second-round berths in the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors event.

First-round winners in the girls doubles were top seeds Huang and Yu, second seeds Oh Jiyun of Korea and Daniella Clara Suryapranata of Indonesia, third seeds Hagi and Tarita Hongsyok of Thailand, and fourth seeds Choi Min Young and Choi Soo Young of Korea.