KUALA LUMPUR: The future is looking bright for national junior tennis players Darrshan Suresh and Christian Didier Chin after both showed positive developments in ITF competitions in Pakistan and Russia recently.
Darrshan did well by winning his first ITF Junior tournament at the Syed Tajammul Abbas ITF Pakistian Junior Championships (Grade Five). He defeated Taiwan's Cheng Wei Chen 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the boys’ singles final.
Lawn Tennis Association of Malaysia (LTAM) secretary Rahizam Rahim hopes the 17-year-old Darrshan will build on his win in Pakistan.
"He is a very hardworking player with talent.. He is also independent as he plays in international tournaments using his own funds.
“LTAM only provide him a coach in S. Selvarajoo.
"We hope he will now challenge himself by going for higher grade events,” said Rahizam
Christian, meanwhile, made the boys’ doubles semi-finals of the Yeltsin Cup (Grade One) with partner Sergey Fomin of Uzbekistan.
However, the duo lost to Russia’s Egor Noskin-Nikolay Vylegzhanin 6-4, 7-5.
In the singles, Christian was ousted in the second round, losing to Czech Republic's Dominik Palan 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Although, happy with the doubles result, national coach Adam Jaya, who traveled with Christian to Russia, said the 18-year-old still needs to tighten his game.
"He was unfortunate to lose his singles match. He needs to learn to sustain his intensity.
“At the moment, Christian’s performance is like a see-saw going up and down.
"Christian needs to take his chances better and convert on the big points. He has a good net game but his baseline play needs to be steadier and aggressive.
"No worries though, it is all workable and we will look to have him stronger at upcoming tournaments."
Christian will play two ITF Grade 1 tournaments in Thailand and Sarawak next month.