Miller earns return trip to Fall Classic finals

Christian Miller avenged his loss to Jake Lee last season after winning in the semifinals of the boys’ 14-and-under divisions singles in the 2008 Fall Classic Junior Tennis Championships yesterday at the American Memorial Park tennis courts.

Lee and Miller squared off for the boys’ 13-and-under crown last year with the former prevailing, 8-5.

They had an early rematch in the semis, and this time Miller was on the winning side, 8-4, to advance to the finals and set up a title duel with his other rival—Rafael Jones.

Jones claimed the other semis ticket after outclassing Lucas Nutting, 8-2.

Nutting advanced to the semis after downing Daniel Park, 8-1. Lee and Miller defeated Clay McCullough-Stearns (8-1) and Tommy Choi (8-2) in the quarterfinals, respectively, to join Nutting in the semis.

Jones’ quarterfinals foe was Chris Cajigan and the former had a hard time disposing off the latter, scoring a close 9-7 win.

Tournament director and CNMI coach Jeff Race said the Jones-Miller title duel is the game to watch tomorrow.

Miller and Jones had squared off for the championships in the past junior tournaments this year.

The anticipated boys’ 14-and-under finals will be played at 10am.

Other title match set for tomorrow are Tinian’s Benjie Decena versus Woo Suk Chang for the boys’ 18-and-under singles crown.

Decena earned a finals ticket after beating Joseph Jang in the semifinals, 8-2. Chang shut out Nathan Nutting in the other semis pairing, 8-0.

In the girls’ 10-and-under singles, Tammy Ackerman will collide with Emily Jones.

Ackerman defeated Adele Hudkins, 6-2, to gain the first finals seat, while Jones nipped Gabrielle Race, 6-3, to secure the second finals slot.

The boys’ 10-and-under finals will feature newcomer Kennedy Isuka challenging Dylan Ackerman.

Isuka advanced to the finals in his debut in the tournament after whipping Colin Ramsey, 6-3. Ackerman prevailed over Carl Dela Cruz in the other semis bout, 7-6.

Sisters Thea and Theecel Minor are likely to battle for the girls’ 18-and-under crown, as they were leading the round-robin format with three and two wins, respectively.

The girls’ 14-and-under division also has a round-robin format with Neghar Ratguiy and Ilia Corella facing in the finals after sweeping their matches over the weekend.