Jonicka Martina Guba cruised to a straight-sets win over her Indian opponent at the start of the round robin matches in the 2008 Asian 14-Under Series finals at the Boroondara Tennis Center in Melbourne , Australia .

The 14-year-old from La Carlota City, seeded sixth, overpowered Anushka Bargava, 6-3, 6-2, to open her bid on a promising note in the tournament limited to the top 8 players of the circuit.

It was Guba's second win in three meetings against Bargava, whom she also beat in the Bahrain leg of the Asian 14-Under tennis championships. Bargava's only victory over Guba came in the semifinals of the Riffa Views Cup also in Bahrain .

Guba meets another Indian, No. 2 seed Prathanon Tombare, in her next round-robin match today.

Only the top two players from the two groups will advance to the finals on Jan. 13.

The other players in the field are top-ranked Natasha Palha and Bal Namita and Vaidehi Bagvat of India, Adelle Boey of Malausoa and Sri Lanka's Wijesinghe Sherene of Sri Lanka.

Guba, champion of the ATF 14-Under Agra Cup in Manila in last October and finalist in the Bahrain leg, was invited to play in the tournament by Tennis Australia , which is paying for her airfare and accommodations, along with the ATF.

The tournament, one of the side events of the Aussie Open “Grandslam of the Asia-Pacific”, is the fourth tournament outside of the country in less than a year for Guba.

Apart from Bahrain, she also competed in the Asia Oceania leg of the World Junior Tennis Championships in India and the Junior Fed Cup in Kuala Lumpur during the summer last year.*CPT

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