Fall Classic kicks off with more than 60 junior players

The 2008 Fall Classic Junior Tennis Championships kicked off yesterday at the American Memorial Park tennis courts with more than 60 players completing for three division titles.

The field had a mixed of old and new players, keeping tournament director Jeff Race busy for the whole day. Race said this year’s field is one of the biggest in the annual tournament.

Matches began as early as 8am with participants in the boys’ 14-and-under division starting the hostilities in the annual tournament sponsored by Tan Holdings.

Boys’ 14-and-under top seed Rafael Jones made his presence felt in the three-day netfest winning his first match against Chris Park, 8-1, to advance to the quarterfinals.

Other quarterfinalists were Chris Cajigan, Lucas Nutting, Clay McCullough-Sterns, Jake Lee, and Tommy Choi.

Boys’ 14-and-under second seed Christian Miller was dueling RJ Aquino for the last quarterfinals berth yesterday.

The quarterfinals pairings are Cajigan-Jones, Nutting-Park, and Clay-Lee.

Matches in the 14-and-under and 18-and-under divisions were played in an 8-point pro set.

In the boys’ 18-and-under division, which drew eight players, Joseph Yang advanced to the semis, along with Nathan Nutting and Woo Suk Chang.

Top-seed Benjie Decena was squaring off with Min Seok Kim for the last semis berth yesterday.

Yang moved into the semis after beating Andy Nutting, 8-3. Nathan and Chang defeated Sung Jin Kim (8-4) and Sung Hoon (8-3) Ham, respectively, in the other quarterfinals matches.

Games in the girls’ 14-and-under and 18-and-under divisions were also played yesterday with a round-robin format.

Neghar Rastguiy, Amy Arenovski and Ilia Corella won their opening assignments in the 14-and-under age group.

Neghar prevailed over Jean Bracken, 8-4, while Arenovski and Corella won via walkover over Jee Hyun Lee.

In the girls’ 18-and-under, Thea Minor downed sister Theecel, 8-2, while Jodel Fernandez also won via a walkover against Dina Jones.

Most of the matches in the girls’ 14-and-under and 18-and-under age groups will be played today and on Tuesday.

In the boys’ 10-and-under division, three advanced to the quarterfinals.

The list include Carl Dela Cruz, who outclassed John Cano, 6-1; Ruther Lizama, who outlasted Kevin Rhee, 7-5; and Aaron Lee, who beat Clayton Isuka, 6-4.

In the girls’ 10-and-under division, Tammy Ackerman, Adele Hudkins, Gabrielle Race, and Emily Jones booked semis tickets.

Ackerman drew a bye in the first round and will face Hudkins in the semis as the latter won over Liza Atalig, 6-3.

Race defeated Sakura Imaya to set-up a semis match with Jones, who slipped past Carol Lee, 6-2.