Indian girls enter quarter-finals

India beat Malaysia to win their second match and enter for the quarter-finals in the Asia-Oceania girls' qualifying tournament for the World junior (under-14) tennis event, at the Gelora Senayam tennis stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Wednesday.

Seeded third in the tournament, India registered a 3-0 victory to score their second victory in Group 2. Earlier, on Tuesday, they had defeated the Philippines by an identical margin.

India No. 2 Sandhya Nagaraj started well, posting a 6-2, 6-3 win over Mary Ngiam, and then Sanaa Bhambri easily defeated Tinusha Sivaganam 6-0, 6-1.

Bhambri then teamed up with Vandana Murali in the doubles to beat Ngiam/Puvaneswary Vajayandran 6-0, 6-1 and complete the sweep.

In the another match in Group 2, Japan defeated the Philippines 3-0. India and Japan entered the quater-finals. Both teams haven't dropped a set in the event and are tied on top of the group.

On Thursday, the two teams face each other to decide the group winner.

In Group 1, top seeds China defeated Uzbekistan 3-0.

New Zealand defeated Thailand 2-1 and Kazakhstan beat Korea 3-0 in the Group 3, while second seeds Australia edged China Hong Kong 2-1 in a Group 4 match.

The 2002 World Junior tennis finals will take place in Prostejov, the Czech Republic, during the week of August 12.

Four teams will qualify from the Asia-Oceania group. The Czech Republic, as host nation, has automatically qualifed for the finals.

Earlier, last week, the Indian boys qualified from the Asia-Oceania group for the finals.