Young Vietnamese tennis player Nguyen Hoang Thien has moved up seven places from 241st to 234th in the world junior ranking this month, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) announced.

Thien got into the federation's U18 Group 4 semi-finals in the men's singles in the Tennis Central 18&under ITF Summer Championship in New Zealand last week and won the men's doubles.

The HCM City boy hopes to reach the federation's top 100 junior ranking within the next two years.

Thien, who became the first Vietnamese player to get to an Australian Open Junior Championship, returned to the country ob Feb. 16.

The 16-year-old won the Vietnam International Junior Championships in Binh Duong and Bac Lieu last year.

In 2008, he beat Amer Naow of Syria in the boys' singles final and a silver medal doubles at the Asian U-14 Championships in Bahrain before cruising in the boys' singles final of Asian Juniors Circuit Tennis Tournament in Chandigarh, India.

As scheduled, Thien will take part in four tournaments within a month from Feb. 25 in Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines.

He will then travel to France for training and competition until the end of the year, working with two coaches to improve his performance on clay./.