Nam wins both singles and doubles event in China

Nam overcame rival Wang Aoran from the host nation in the second round after the latter retired when the score was 6-5 in favour of the Vietnamese in the first set. Wang said he had a health problem and could not finish the match.

Nam will play another Chinese, Sun Fajing, in the quarterfinals. Sun, the No 4 seed, is No 6-seeded Nam’s partner in the doubles event.

The easy win boosted Nam’s spirit for his doubles match later. He and Sun worked well to beat Darren Polkinghorne of Australia and Wu Tung Lin of Chinese Taipei 6-3, 4-6, 10-7 in the semifinals.

Their final match rivals are Francis Casey Alcantara of the Philippines and Singh Karunuday from India, who won 7-6 (3), 6-3 against Yi Chu-huan of Chinese Taipei and Zhong Su Hao of China on July 13.

With a place in the finals here, Nam has secured a berth in the world’s top 500 in the doubles category in next week’s ranking release.