by Simon Daish

Crystal Wang leads group 7 after making a positive start to her Girls’ Singles campaign. Crystal Wang went head-to-head with Brazil’s Daniela Yano in a tie that went on to be decided in straight games (11-3, 11-7, 11-5, 11-3) with the USA player emerging as victor.

Next up for Crystal Wang is the challenge of facing Egypt’s Amira Yousry in what could be a battle for top spot in the group depending on results from the afternoon session.

Group 11 played host to another USA victory as Angela Guan came out on top in her match, while there was also a win for the country’s Amy Wang.

Angela Guan saw off Egyptian competitor Sarah Abousetta without too much difficulty (11-3, 11-9, 11-8, 11-6), and Amy Wang registered an important opening win over Australia’s Antonia Zhang (11-3, 12-10, 11-8, 11-7) to move top of group 18.

The host nation didn’t enjoy the greatest of starts to the qualifying group stage, as all six of South Africa’s representatives suffered defeats in the opening round of play.

Simeen Mookrey lost out in straight games to the Czech Republic’s Marketa Sevcikova with all four ends featuring the same scoreline (11-2, 11-2, 11-2, 11-2), and Mthabiseng Mtshoelibe lost in a similar fashion to Romanian player Andreea Clapa (11-2, 11-3, 11-5, 11-4).

More disappointing results followed for Danica Schlome, Lekeasha Johnson, Keshmika Sivnarain and Misfiquh Kalam as South African fans were left with very little to cheer about in the opening stage of the Girls’ Singles qualifiers.

Elsewhere there were positive outcomes for Germany’s contestants with Caroline Hajok, Janina Kammerer and Luisa Saeger ending up on the winning side in their respective matches. The two French athletes, Oceane Guisnel and Leili Mostafavi, also triumphed in the morning session on day five in Cape Town.

Sun International 2016 World Junior Championships: Day Five Quotes