- Britain’s Aidan McHugh was beaten by sixth seed Chun Hsin Tseng in Melbourne
- The Scot, 17, did excellently to reach the boy’s semi-finals at the Australian Open
- But he came up short against 16-year-old Tseng, losing 6-3 5-7 6-4 on Friday
Aidan McHugh’s hopes of winning his first junior Grand Slam title ended in a semi-final loss to Chun Hsin Tseng at the Australian Open.
The 17-year-old Scot has had an excellent run in Melbourne but came up just short in a rain-affected match, losing 6-3 5-7 6-4 to the sixth seed from Chinese Taipei.
McHugh had broken for a 4-2 lead in the second set when persistent rain arrived in Melbourne and the rest of the match was completed indoors at the neighbouring National Tennis Centre.
Britain’s Aidan McHugh bowed out of the boy’s singles event at the Australian Open on Friday
Seventeen-year-old McHugh lost to Chun Hsin Tseng, 16, in a three-set semi-final in Melbourne
McHugh, who is mentored by British No 1 Andy Murray, went down 6-3 5-7 6-4 to the sixth seed
McHugh was the first British boy to reach a Slam semi-final since Kyle Edmund at Wimbledon in 2013 and was aiming to become the first to win one since Oli Golding at the US Open in 2011.
He said: ‘There wasn’t a lot in it at all. I’m obviously a bit upset and gone just now but tennis wise and the way the match went, there wasn’t any big reasons why it went either way, it was pretty tight games.
‘It was a good week. Just now it’s a shame because I obviously would have liked to have played in the final. It’ll probably take a couple of days just for me to realise how good a week it was.’
McHugh, who is mentored by Andy Murray, had no complaints about the change of court.
He said: ‘I’m quite used to it, at home we do it quite a lot. It was fine. It was obviously outdoors to indoors, so that was a little bit different, but same for him as well.’
The teenager has set his sights on winning a junior slam title this season but will predominantly focus on his first steps at senior level and is due to play a Futures tournament, the lowest tier of the professional game, in Glasgow next week.
McHugh had broken for a 4-2 lead in the second set when persistent rain arrived in Melbourne
The match was completed indoors, with Tseng sealing his win at the National Tennis Centre