Vietnamese teenager Nguyen Hoang Thien cruised into the quarter-finals of the Rushbrooke International Tennis Federation U-18 tournament in Ireland on July 29.

Thien, 14, beat older English rivals Lewis Mathew, 6-2, 7-6 and Thomas Reynolds 4-6; 6-4, 6-3 and was to play the top seed, Markovic Sterland.

Playing on grass, the Ho Chi Minh City-born athlete lost the first set against Reynolds but rallied to take the final sets comfortably. When down 0-40 in one game he hit five straight aces.

“It’s the first time I’ve played on grass so I found it hard to control the ball with different bounce and speed.

Thien said he was below his best in a tournament in nearby Donnybrook the previous week but learned a lot from the experience.

Thien tops the Asian Tennis Federation’s U-14 rankings and hopes to improve his world junior ranking of 562.

In a bid to improve his world ranking, the rising star has trained with a leading American coach, Roy Coopersmith, who guided Serbian star Jelena Jankovic in 2006.(VNS)