Tennis: Kiwi teen progresses

Kiwi teenager Rubin Statham has won a round as a qualifier at the ITF Futures tennis tournament in California.

Statham won his first round main draw match 6-3, 2-6,6-2 against American Dave Lingman after three rounds of qualifying.

He now faces the second seed Zack Fleishman of California, who has a world ranking of 325.

Meanwhile, Kiwi pro Leanne Baker has had a win and a loss at a US$25,000 event in Beijing.

In the first round Baker defeated Japan's Kaori Aoyama 6-4, 6-3 but went down in the second round to top seed and world number 62 Jie Zheng of China 6-2, 6-1.