ITF W40 Hong Kong: Taiwanese test has familiar feel for Adithya Karunaratne as Asian Games loom
- Hong Kong’s last representative at the ITF event loses in the semi-finals, but gets a stage further than at the World University Games in Chengdu
- After an injury-hit start to the year, Sri Lanka-born Karunaratne gains useful court time ahead of her first Asian Games
Home contender Adithya Karunaratne’s run ended in the semi-finals at the ITF W40 Hong Kong tournament at Victoria Park on Saturday.
After beating Liang En-shuo of Taiwan in the quarter-finals, the 21-year-old was stopped by another Taiwanese player, seventh seed Yang Ya-yi, in the last four. Yang prevailed 6-4, 7-5 after a two-hour duel.
There were echoes of this month’s World University Games in Chengdu, where Liang had also opposed Karunaratne in the last eight, beating her that time on her way to a bronze medal, while Yang had reached the final, taking silver.
Yang now finds herself in the Hong Kong final, but Karunaratne – the only Hong Kong player left after exits for Eudice Chong and Cody Wong Hong-yi – was not without chances, notably at 5-4 up in the second set.
“I think she just played better in the important moments,” Karunaratne said. “At 5-5 during my service game, she returned pretty well and then a double fault cost me.
