The Sabah-Sarawak ladies pair Nurshaneem Shamsuddin-Belinda Chai clinched the ladies doubles title in the KL Open tennis tournament beating sisters Elysia-Elsa Wan Rahman 6-1, 7-6 (2) in the finals of the International KL Open last weekend.
Nurshaneem is the mixed doubles gold medalist in the recent SUKMA Games in Sarawak. Then, she had partnered Christian Chin.
Christian Didier Chin finished as runner-up in the finals in the men’s category. Christian is the youngest player to have ever reached the final.
In the hard fought final, Christian won the first set easily 6-1. In the second set, second-seeded Thai Nuttanon Kadchapanan came back to win 6-3.
The final set was a see saw with Christian locked at 5-5, after leading 5-2 in the tie breaker, then down at 5-6, up at 7-6 but could not get the match point. He lost with 7-9. It was a heart break for Christian and the home crowd.
However he can still walk tall as an unseeded player and at 15-years-old, he still managed to beat all the seeded players up to the final and to lose in a tie breaker 7-9.
With the win he pocketed RM 3,900.00.
STA President Johnson Koh was satisfied with Christian’s effort and progress. He also expressed satisfaction that Nurshaneem had won the ladies doubles champion.
STA are continuing with the juniors programs.
