By REDintern Tessa Cho
Terence Phua of SAJC returns against ACJC. Together with his doubles partner, Elliot Braet, they beat the ACJC pair of Jerry Yee and Boris Lee 7–6, 4–6, 6–3 to secure the winning point for SAJC. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Kallang Tennis Centre, Tuesday, May 7, 2013 – St. Andrew’s Junior College (SAJC) beat Anglo-Chinese Junior College (ACJC) 3-2 after a grueling two and a half hours to capture third place in the National A Division Boys’ Tennis Championship.
While all of the matches began at the same time, four of them concluded within the first one and a half hours, leaving the tie finely balanced at a 2–2 overall score. This left the doubles match between the SA duo of Terence Phua and Elliot Braet, against the AC pair of Jerry Yee and Boris Lee, as the deciding point.
The match began with both pairs trading points, keeping the score very tight. SA were first given an opportunity for a set point at 5-4, 40 all. However, a wild shot by the SA duo kept the game alive which lasted through a tie break. The SA duo fought back hard despite being down by four points, to win the first set 7-6.
The second set proceeded in a similar fashion with both teams keeping on serve. Eventually, the AC pair was able to break the serve of the SA duo to gain a 5–4 lead. With both pairs fighting fiercely for every point, the tense atmosphere was ratcheted up with a sudden death face-off. The AC pair won the set after an unforced error by the SA duo, and the match was pushed into a third and deciding final set.
The intensity of the match began to take a toll on the players as SAJC’s Terence Phua began to experience cramps on both his legs in the third set. This saw a change in tactics by the SA duo for the rest of the match, with Elliot Braet tasked with more ground to cover. This did not seem to hamper the SA pair as they went from leading 2–1 to a 5–3 lead.
Finally, after an intense two and a half hours, with two smashes by Terence and an unforced error by AC, SA were rewarded with their first match point at 40–0 up. The mixture of anticipation and anxiousness in the atmosphere was prolonged when the SA duo made two consecutive unforced errors, bringing the game score to 40–30 to SA. Eventually, AC made an unforced forehand error into the net, to give the SA duo a 6–3 win in the final set.
“I think the match was a very well-deserved win as we have truly showed the true fighting spirit of the Saints family,” said Terence, who is also the vice-captain of the SA tennis team. “(Even though) I cramped really badly, I still managed to pull myself up and continue to fight on.”
With regard to their expectations prior to the matches against ACJC, the SA captain, Elliot, said: “We were very anxious but confident. While we were not hoping for such a close fight, we were pretty sure it would be a close one.”
“This has been the closest fight throughout the whole tournament. The results of the previous few matches were all pretty one-sided and clear cut,” he continued.
SAJC cruised through the preliminary round, topping their table by beating National University of Singapore High School (5–0), Tampines Junior College (5–0), Victoria Junior College (4–1) and Hwa Chong Institution (4–1). In the second round, they lost to Raffles Instition (0–5), but beat Temasek Junior College (5–0) and Serangoon Junior College (5–0). In the semi-finals, SAJC lost 4–1 to ACS(I).
In 2012, SAJC also finished third in the championship.
Overall Score
SAJC 3 ACJC 2
Score by Match
SAJC vs ACJC
1st Singles
Lim An Howe beat Colin Hernandez
6–1, 6–0
2nd Singles
Udit Goswami beat Chris Ong
6–3, 6–2
1st Doubles
Law Tze Hsyen/Malcolm Neo lost to Matthew Chan/Rainer Tham
3–6, 0–6
2nd Doubles
Terence Phua/Elliot Braet beat Jerry Yee/Boris Lee
7–6, 4–6, 6–3
3rd Singles
Ng Jun Quan lost to Bryan Seah
0–6, 0–6
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