Blinkova, Hong winners at 2nd ITF Junior Masters in Sichuan

South Korea's Seong Chan Hong, who won the men's title in the second ITF Junior Masters, hits a ball in a match against Spain's Alvaro Lopez San Martin. [Photo by Huang Zhiling/China Daily]

Due to a pause in Ruud's delivery of the final phrase, it seemed as if he was telling the show's hostess that he loved her, which resulted in much laughter from onlookers such as David Haggerty, president of the International Tennis Federation, and former professional tennis player Li Na.

Li, who won two Grand Slam singles titles at the 2011 French Open and 2014 Australian Open, was present in the center as the publicity ambassador of the second ITF Junior Masters.

She observed the matches and presented Blinkova her award at the closing ceremony.

Based upon last year's ITF rankings, eight males and eight females qualified to take part in the second ITF Junior Masters.

The players competed in a knockout competition over the course of three days, with each player guaranteed three matches to determine their final position.

The inaugural ITF Junior Masters was held in the Sichuan International Tennis Center last April 3 to 5, with Andrey Rublev from Russia and Xu Shilin from China winning the men's and women's events respectively.