Miller streaks to fourth U18 finals stint

Surging Christian Miller earned his fourth straight boys U18 finals appearance this year after winning over Amami Sakano in the semifinals of the 2012 Micronesian Junior Tennis Championships yesterday at the Pacific Islands Club hard court.

Miller, who made it to the championship of the 2012 Coconut Classic in February, PIC tournament in March, and the CNMI Junior Championships early this month and swept all three titles, downed Sakano in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3, to boost his chances for a fourth straight U18 crown.

Miller’s foe will be the winner of the Rafael Jones-Jake Lee semis. Lee and Jones dueled for the last finals berth yesterday afternoon, but results of the game were unavailable at press time.

Lee and Jones arranged a semis tiff after prevailing over separate foes last Saturday. Lee defeated last year’s finalist Daniel Park, 6-2, 6-2, while the defending champion Jones also had a two-set victory over Seiya Eda, 6-1, 6-3. Miller drew a bye last Saturday and played his first match in the tournament against Sakano yesterday. The boys U18 finale will be played today at 10:30am.

In other results, Chris Cajigan and Moris Villanueva forced a title showdown in the boys U15 singles after going undefeated over the weekend. Cajigan first topped Colin Ramsey last Saturday, 6-1, 6-3 and then swept Dylan Ackerman in the semis yesterday, 6-1, 6-2, to advance to the finals for the second straight time. Cajigan won last year’s boys U15 crown against Chris Park.

Villanueva, who was in the boys U12 draw last year, made it to his first U15 finals stint after beating Aaron Lee in the first round, 6-0, 6-1, and stunning the second-seeded Carl Dela Cruz in the semis yesterday, 6-2, 6-2.

In the boys U12 finals at 9am today, it will be Steven Goodwin versus Clayton Izuka. Izuka lived up to his top billing after thumping Joshua Abragan in the quarterfinals, 6-1, 6-1, and surviving Vincent Tudela in the semis of the upper half bracket, 3-6, 6-1, 7-6. In the lower half bracket, Goodwin won over Ken Son, 6-1, 6-2, and Michael Jones, 6-3, 6-1.

In the boys U10, Kevin Kim made it to the finals against the victor of the other semis game between Mondo Taniguchi and Aditya Rai. Kim shut out Jeffrey Seo, 8-0, and Tony Atalig, 8-4, to move into the finals. Taniguchi drew a bye in the first round and was scheduled to play yesterday against Rai, who won his first match against Rintaro Miyawaki, 8-4.

Meanwhile, in the girls competition, Catherine Atalig and Asia Raulerson dispute the U10 crown today, while Julia Ishikawa and Liza Atalig battle for the U12 tiara. Catherine Atalig and Raulerson marched into the finals after beating Conatsu Kaga, 8-4, and Ruth Park, 8-2, in the semis, respectively. Catherine’s sister, Liza, also booked a finals ticket after Ami Calvert in the semis, 6-4, 6-3, while Ishikawa won over Hana Nelson in the other Final Four pairing, 6-1, 6-2.

In the U15 and U18 age groups, which both have a round-robin format, Negahr Rastguiy, Carol Lee, Thea Minor, and Alina Ishikawa recorded one win each as of yesterday morning.