Teenager faces clay court test in Florence

HA NOI – Teenager Nguyen Hoang Thien will be competing at the International Tennis Federation (ITF)'s 36th City of Florence International tournament from tomorrow, his agent confirmed yesterday.

Thien, 16, will test his skills on clay against stiff competition, with the likes of Lukas Vrnak of the Czech Republic, ranked 31 in the ITF junior rankings, Yaraslau Shyla of Belarus, ranked 41, and Slovak Nik Razbosek, who is 72nd in the world, all vying for the title.

The HCM City-born has claimed eight wins and three losses in ITF tournaments this year, propelling him to the 225th in the world rankings.

He won the doubles events at the 2010 Tennis Central 18&Under ITF Summer Championship in New Zealand and the ITF Malacca International Junior Championship in Malaysia

The teenager also lost in the last 16 to France's Antoine Hoang 6-3, 7-6 last week at the Open d'Istres Ouset Provence, another clay court tournament.

"His favours hard courts, but I said he should try out other surfaces," said Thien's father Nguyen Ngoc Minh.

"He has been training with his two coaches, Tom Kindavong and Marcel Petit, in preparation for the tournament in Florence," Minh said.

Born in 1995, Thien first stepped onto a tennis court at the age of eight.

His target is to break into the top 200 in the world by the time he is 18. – VNS