Kho Sin-Kie

Kho Sin-Khie (September 2, 1912 – January 31, 1947) was an Indonesian-born tennis player who represented the Republic of China in the Davis Cup.

He was from the Peranakan Chinese ethnic group.

He was the first Chinese player ever to win a major international tournament.

He was a two time winner of the British Hard Court Championships, and the Surrey Grass Court Championships on one occasion.

In 1929, he won the Central Java Tennis Championship.

In 1932, his parents died.

He won the All-Java Championship in 1933.

In 1933, he won the Chinese national championships topping Qiufei Hai of Shanghai.

He played his first international matches in 1934 when he toured Sumatra challenging the Netherlands Davis Cup team.

In Kisaran, he met Cornelius Bryan (Champion of Sumatra ) whom he beat in three sets.

In doubles, Bryan and team member Hendrik Timmer scored a three-set victory against the Chinese.

Then they moved to Siantar where at the inaugural of the Simeloengoen Club two one-set matches were held.

Bryan and Kho went toe-to-toe in singles with Kho victorious.

Then he faced Alsbach and won six to four.

This was followed by the doubles between Timmer-Bryan and Alsbach-Kho, which was abandoned due to Bryan's injury with Khos' leading one set and one break in the second, while the Bryan was serving to stay in the match.

In Medan, he beat Bryan and had his match with Alsbach interrupted as it started raining.

In 1934, he was scheduled to represent his country at the 1934 Far Eastern Games, which was cancelled.

In 1935, he became the Chinese national champion for the second time after beating compatriot Khoo Hooi Hye and subsequently was named the top Chinese player.

Local people raised money for him to support his post-graduate education in Switzerland.

In 1935, the Dutch Indies Tennis Association invited a couple of European players to play a series of exhibition matches in the Orient.

In Surabaya, he paired with Nami to face Giorgio de Stefani and Enrique Maier and lost in two sets.

Then the party traveled to Surakarta where singles matches were held and Kho faced de Stefani with the Italian coming out victoriously.

Then on a rematch in Semarang, Kho prevailed for the first time over de Stefani in front a home crowd of two thousand.

While touring America, Kho reached the doubles finals of the 1935 Kansas City Championships with Lewis D. Carson, losing to Wilbur Coen and William Kiley.

The same year, he debuted in the Davis Cup against the United States Davis Cup team and lost all three of his rubbers.

In 1936, he arrived to Great Britain to attend college, and he was offered a job at the Chinese Embassy.

He studied commerce in London.

Later he was sponsored by the Dunlop Rubber Company.

He met Giorgio de Stefani again for the Dutch Championships in 1936, losing to him.

Also in 1936, he reached the fourth round of the 1936 French Championships in singles and reached the third round of the mixed doubles with Mademoiselle Terwinot.

In the New Year's Eve tournament of 1936–1937 at the Beausite L.T.C. de Cannes, he defeated Vladimir Landau and won the doubles as well with him.

At the same event, he and miss Simonne Mathieu won the mixed contest.

In January 1937, he won the Monegasque Championships against Gaston Médécin.

In February, he captured the Gallia L.T.C. de Cannes title, beating home favorite Jacques Brugnon in straight sets.

Kho won numerous tournaments in Europe, most notably winning the British Hard Court Championships twice, in 1938 and 1939 and was a runner-up in 1946.

He also won the Swiss International Championships (1939), Italian and Swedish champion as well.

Kho was born and raised in Java to a poor family in an eggplant farm where his father, Han Ting was the head of the village.

He had three brothers and three sisters.

After he had been dropped out of school he started playing tennis at the age of 14, while working in a sports equipment store.

In the early years he had troubles to make his father understand his admiration for the game.