HA NOI (VNS) — Ly Hoang Nam of Viet Nam entered the boys' singles semi-finals at the Chang Thailand ITF Junior G1 in Bangkok yesterday.

The national champion delivered an outstanding performance against No 2 seed Djurabeck Karimov of Uzbekistan to progress.

Karimov lost the first set 5-7 before retiring before the second set had got underway.

"It is hot in Thailand which made us both feel exhausted. It's probably one of the reasons he was forced to quit after losing the first set," said Nam.

Nam will next play No 4 seed Marc Polmans of Australia, who is 28th in the world junior rankings. Polmans reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open's junior event in January.

Nam however was stoped in the quarter-final round in the boys' doubles with partner Daniel Nolan.

The No 5 seeds lost 7-6(5), 6-4 to No 2 seeds Yuya Ito and Arika Santillan.

The annual Chang Thailand tournament will conclude on March 7, with points counting towards a berth at the French Open in Paris in May. — VNS