Aoi Ishizaki Claims Boys’ Singles and Doubles Titles at ITF J30 Manila

Unseeded Japanese player Aoi Ishizaki captured the boys’ singles championship by defeating fellow countryman Shun Munetoh 7-5, 6-2 in the final of the ITF J30 Manila first leg, held at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center hardcourt in Manila on Sunday. Ishizaki, 15, then paired with Kango Endoh to win the boys’ doubles title against Munetoh and Rentaro Otaka with a 6-4, 6-3 scoreline.

Ishizaki’s impressive run included victories over No. 3 seed Ariyaphol Leekul of Thailand in the quarterfinals and No. 6 seed Kuranosuke Suzuki of Japan in the semifinals. His finalist opponent, Munetoh, entered the tournament as a qualifier and caused upsets by defeating No. 4 seed Napat Pattanalertphan of Thailand in the quarters, followed by No. 2 seed Ruochen Gao of China in the semifinals.

Ishizaki is set to advance to the second leg of the tournament starting Tuesday.

In the girls’ division, second seed Park Seojin from South Korea secured the singles title with a straight-set victory, 6-4, 6-3, over top seed Yi-Ching Huang of Chinese Taipei. Huang, an 18-year-old member of her country’s Under-16 national team, acknowledged Park’s strong performance, particularly praising her solid forehand. Huang holds three doubles titles earlier this year.

"Park played very well. She has a solid forehand," Huang stated following the match. Their coach, Rau Gau Yu, who has worked with Huang for seven years, remarked, "This is her last tournament in the ITF Juniors and she gave her best out there."

The girls’ doubles crown was claimed by the third seeds Paweenon Nualsri of Thailand and Ying Chi Chloe Wong of Hong Kong, who defeated the fourth-seeded Chinese pair Wang Jiayi and Xu Yishan 6-2, 6-3.