Story by Tessa Cho/Red Sports
Leong Jia Li of NUS serves. She and partner Cheryl Fang beat their SMU opponents 9–3. (Photo 1 © Joseph Lee/Red Sports)
Nanyang Technological University, Thursday, September 5, 2013 — The National University of Singapore (NUS) doubles pair, Leong Jia Li and Cheryl Fang, defeated Nicole Goh and Hoe Ying Mei of Singapore Management University (SMU) 9–3 to secure their spot in the women’s doubles tennis final of the 2013 Singapore University Games (SUniG).
Despite their seemingly easy win, the NUS girls had not taken it for granted. “We knew we were up against tough opponents so we were very focused from the start and had prepared quite hard for it,” said the girls.
It was also not an easy match as the SMU girls fought till the end and were constantly vying for each point, with many points going to deuce. Despite NUS leading 2–0 initially, SMU managed to maintain their composure and won the next three points to lead 3–2. Ultimately, the NUS pair managed to adjust their game play to win the next seven points to close out the match at 9–3.
“We were actually quite nervous but we are quite glad that everything turned out well in the end,” said Jia Li, adding that they were also aware of their unforced errors.
It was nonetheless a commendable effort by the SMU pair with Hoe Ying Mei still in the recovery phase of her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. Ying Mei had an ACL operation in January this year. In her previous quarter-final match, she had strained it and was more cautious in the semi-finals.
Cheryl Fang and Leong Jia Li will play against fellow NUS teammates Tessa Ong and Eunice Chew in the doubles final on Monday, September 9.
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