Minor, Miller win first match in Australia

CNMI junior tennis players Thea Minor and Christian Miller got off to a good start in the 2012 Australia Post Margaret Court Cup after winning their opening matches in the U16 singles.

Minor was pitted against New South Wales’ Sarah Mitchell and cruised to a straight set win, 6-1, 6-0, yesterday morning at the Albury Tennis Courts in Albury. The CNMI bet is at the top half of the 12-player main draw and will be up against a much tougher foe in the second round, as she will face the No. 1 seed Marta Brzozowska of Victoria. The top-ranked Australian drew a bye in the first round.

The 16-year-old Minor is one of the three Oceania ITF Touring Team members who advanced to the next round. The two others were Fiji’s Annie Shannon, who nailed a 6-2, 6-3 win over New Caledonia’s Assaya Trimari, and Tuvalu’s Alesi Molotii, who downed Victoria’s Julia Stutsel, 6-3, 6-0.

Minor is also entered in the doubles and she and Shannon were scheduled to duel top seeds Brzozowska and Lauren Smileski in the first match of the round-robin competition yesterday afternoon. Five pairs are battling for the girls U16 doubles crown.

The victory in the first round of the competition in Albury was a boost for Minor, as she lost in the same event last year, bowing to Victoria’s Bronwyn Plowman, 4-6, 4-7 (4).

Miller is a first timer in the Margaret Court Cup and won his opening game in the boys U16 qualifying draw. The 16-year-old Commonwealth netter was paired against Australia’s Lachlan Anthony Shrimpton and shut out his foe last Friday morning, 6-0, 6-0. It took Miller only 48 minutes to oust Shrimpton, however, he failed to sustain his momentum and bowed to Dominic Marquis last Friday afternoon, 3-6, 2-6.

Miller went on to play in the consolation draw of the qualifier and suffered another loss at the hands of the Cook Islands’ Tamarua Payne last Saturday. Miller won the opening set, 6-3, but lost the extended match that lasted for more than two hours, as Payne took the last two sets, 6-3, 10-8.

Then less than an hour after playing in the consolation draw, Miller joined forces with Tahiti’s Heve Kelly and they lost to Australia’s Cameron Cole and Nathan Ponton in the first round of the boys U16 doubles main draw, 2-6, 3-6.

Meanwhile, Rafael Jones also had to go through the men’s singles qualifying draw and went on to lose to Australia’s Conrad Lim last Friday, 2-6, 0-6. He fell to the consolation draw where he redeemed himself after posting two victories last Saturday. The 16-year-old netter defeated Australia’s Luke Mitchell (via walkover) and the No. 4 seed Harry Lim, 6-4, 6-1. Jones was scheduled to challenge another Australian player—Stephen O’Hehir—in the quarterfinals of the consolation draw yesterday afternoon.

In the men’s doubles, Jones teamed up with Fiji’s Chris Hargrove and they bowed to siblings Jack and William Jamie Swindells of Australia after the tough one and a half hour game, 7-6 (4), 6-2.

Tammy Ackerman, the fourth CNMI junior netter competing in Australia, was scheduled to play in her first match in the girls U12 singles yesterday, but results of her game against Jasmin Ruby Starr were unavailable at press time.