Rising star Janelle Chiang, 14, despite losing her semifinal in the U15 Girls Singles at the WTT Youth Contender Metz 2024, had every reason to smile as she clinched her first top 3 finish of 2024.

At her last outing in February at the WTT Youth Contender Tunis 2024, she had only managed to reach the Round of 16 in the same event.

Coming up against Austria’s Elina Fuchs in the semifinal in France, Janelle knew she had to dig deep against her higher-ranked opponent. After losing the first set 0-11, the Singapore Sports School student recovered to win the next two sets 11-3, 11-8.

Fuchs then levelled the tie at 2-2 when she clinched the fourth set 11-5. In the deciding set, both players were determined to seal their place in the final, but it was the Austrian that eventually prevailed 12-10 to clinch the game 3-2.

Janelle had earlier stunned Lee Haelin of Korea, 3-0, in the quarterfinals. She also defeated Elisa Meyer of Germany in the Round of 32 and Akhyata Patra of Switzerland in the Round of 16 by scorelines of 3-1 and 3-2 respectively.

She will be next in action in the U15 and U17 Girls Singles events at the WTT Youth Contender Spa 2024.