Sacha Jones is staking a strong claim for selection in the New Zealand Fed Cup team due to compete in Korea next month.  After winning an ITF Grade 1 tournament in Malaysia last week, Jones is now through to the quarter-finals of a similar event in Bangkok.  Yesterday she overwhelmed Sandhya Nagaraj (IND) 6-0 6-2 to set up a quarter-final encounter against Denise Dy (PHI).  Jones beat Dy in the semis of Malaysia last week.

Australian Open Junior Finalist Nick Lindahl beat Rubin Statham 6-4 6-1 in the second round of a claycourt Futures tournament in Australia yesterday.  Rubin was also eliminated from the doubles.

Fourth seed Sacha Jones continued her winning form to reach the third round of the Bangkok Junior Championships in Thailand.  Sacha quickly disposed of Yurina Koshino from Japan 6-0 6-3.

Rubin Statham is through to the second round of the Australian F4 Men’s Futures tournament being played on clay at Bairnsdale, Victoria.  Rubin beat Matthew Ebden (AUS) 7-6 3-6 6-3 to set up a clash with Australian Open Junior Finalist Nick Lindahl.

After winning the Grade 1 Genting Malaysian International Juniors in Kuala Lumpur last week, Sacha Jones has jumped up the ITF World Junior Rankings from 61 to 32.  She will now be able to gain direct acceptance into the main draw of all Grand Slam junior tournaments.  Sacha is currently in Thailand at a junior event attempting to build on the success of last week.

Sean Berman and Nathan Lewis have been competing in a junior tournament at Long Beach, California with mixed success.  Fourth seed Lewis is comfortably through to the last sixteen of the Boy’s 12 singles after beating Brendan Josephson 6-0 6-0 in the third round.  Top seed Sean Berman lost 7-6 6-2 in his third round match of the Boy’s 14’s to Ben Mitchell from California.

Marina Erakovic is off to a good start on her American tennis campaign.  She beat second seed Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) 6-3 2-6 6-3 in the first round of the US$25000 ITF Women’s Circuit tournament in Redding, California.  In the second round Marina plays Chin-Wei Chan from Taipei.