Perfect start for Jones, Miller

CNMI junior tennis team members Rafael Jones and Christian Miller swept their opening day matches in the ITF Oceania Plate Sunday at the Robin Mitchell Regional Tennis Centre in Lautoka, Fiji.

Jones, who finished fourth in the 2008 Pacific Oceania Junior Championships last week, continued his impressive debut in Fiji winning all two matches in the junior boys division on Day 1.

Jones first defeated Guam’s Cory Morrison, 6-2, 6-1, and completed an opening-day sweep with a 6-0 (retired) triumph over Muller Afemui of Tonga.

The 13-year-old CNMI netter now shares the Pool B lead with Devin Khatri of Fiji, who topped Afemui, 6-1, 6-0, and Christian Duchnak of American Samoa, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5.

Jones was set to battle Duchnak and Alex Beddoes of the Cook Islands on Day 2 of the five-day tournament yesterday. Results of these matches were unavailable at press time.

Over in Pool A, Miller went 2-for-2 on the opening day, beating John Martin Kaiulo of Papua New Guinea and Xyril Posala of Samoa.

Miller defeated Kaiulo in straight sets, 6-4, 6-0, and bounced back from an opening set loss to Posala to pull off a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory.

Miller’s second day assignments yesterday were against Devrath Narayan and Robin Morove of Papua New Guinea.

The top two players in each pool will advance to the cross-over semifinals with the No. 1 player in Pool A meeting the No. 2 player in Pool B for the first finals ticket and Pool B’s top placer dueling Pool A’s second finisher for the other championship berth.

In Pool A of the senior girls division, Thea Minor split her opening day matches.

Minor started her campaign in the Oceania Plate event on a winning note, defeating Lorish Puluspene of Papua New Guinea, 6-3, 6-3.

But Minor failed to post a clean record on Day 1 after bowing to Adalyn Hazelman of Fiji in three sets.

The 13-year-old Minor drew first blood against the 15-year-old Hazelman, eking out a 7-5 victory in the opening set. But her much older foe recovered and took the last two sets, 6-3, 6-3, to steal the win.

Dina Jones is also playing in Pool A, but had a tough time on Day 1, dropping all two matches.

The 16-year-old CNMI netter bowed to Hazelman in her first game, 2-6, 3-6, and failed to bounced back in the second match, losing to Leilani Duchnak of American Samoa, 1-6, 0-6.

Jones was hoping to enter the win column yesterday, as she faced Minor and Losana Vosa of Fiji on Day 2. Minor’s other game on Day 2 was against Duchnak.

Meanwhile, Minor entered the finals of the girls’ 13-and-under doubles in the POJC Friday.

Minor teamed up with Shawn Adams of FSM and won their semifinals match against Puluspene and Lorraine Bani of Vanuatu, 6-0, 6-4.

But Minor and Adams lost to Fiji’s tandem of Annie Shannon and Tarani Kamoe in the title match, 3-6, 2-6.

In the other boys’ 13-and-under doubles match, Miller and Jones won their first game against Fiji’s Geordie Daulaca and Kaiulo, 6-1, 6-1, but bowed in the semifinals against Ducknak and Posala, 4-6, 2-6.

The pair of Miller and Jones settled for third when they downed Morove and Khatri, 6-3, 6-4. Tahiti’s Karl Yomes and New Caledonia’s Clement Coarraze ruled the boys’ 13-and-under doubles after beating Duchnak and Posala, 6-0, 6-1.

CNMI girls’ 18-under player Mayuko Arriola joined forces with Guam’s Alea Dugan, but lost in the battle for third place against Litia Godinet of American Samoa and Kesaia Mu’amoholeva of Tonga, 4-6, 4-6. Samoa’s Steffi Carruthers and American Samoa’s Leilani Duchnak won in the finals against the Solomon Island’s Zinnia Leamana and PNG’s Marcia Tere-Apisah, 7-5, 7-5.

An injured Ji Hoon Heo teamed up with Guam’s William Koo and dropped their first game against Duncan Maetoloa and Ian Honila of the Solomon Islands, 6-0, 6-0. The pair of Vanuatu’s Lorenzo Pineda, who defeated Heo in the boys’ singles finals, and Fiji’s William O’Connell was the doubles champion in the boys’ 18-under division. Pineda and O’Connell prevailed in the finals over Maetoloa and Honila, 6-1, 6-2.