10 to battle for girls U12 tiara in tennis tourney

Maria Gregoire makes a backhand return to Ellie Epley during their game in a local tournament last year at the AMP tennis courts. Both Gregoire and Epley are entered in the girls U12 singles division of the Tan Holdings Tennis Classic. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Leading the list are siblings Conatsu and Coume Kaga, who are seeded first and second in the 16-player draw. Conatsu, who incidentally beat her younger sister in last year’s third place game, is at the top half of the draw and got a bye in the first round. The older Kaga will then play her first match in the tournament against the winner of the Hye Jin Elliot-Erika Tuttle game. Elliot and Tuttle will collide this Friday at 9:30am on Court 1 of the Kanoa Resort with the victor challenging Conatsu in a 4pm tiff at Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan Court 1.

The other pairing at the top half of the draw will have Susan Sablan meeting Maria Gregoire at 8am at Fiesta Court 2. Both players got byes in the first round.

In the lower half of the bracket, Ellie Epley and last year’s U10 finalist Riko Ojima also gained byes in the first round and they will duel in the quarterfinals this Friday at 9:30am at Fiesta Court 2.

The other lower bracket game set for this Friday will have Tiara Imai dueling Erie Ortega at 9:30am at Fiesta Court 2 with the winner squaring off against the second-ranked Coume Kaga.

Meanwhile, four players in the girls U12 singles will also compete in the girls U12 doubles, which has only three pairs.

Epley is teaming up with Gregoire, while Tuttle has Imai as partner. The other duo is composed of Michelle Ryu and last year’s U10 singles champion Hana Ojima. The tandems of Gregoire and Epley and Ryu and Ojima will play first this Friday at 1pm at the Hyatt Regency Saipan Court 2.

The two other matches in the round-robin contest are scheduled this Saturday and Sunday at Hyatt Court 1 and Kanoa Court 2, respectively.

The girls U14 doubles will also have a round-robin format with only three teams entered in the division. Tania Tan is teaming up with Julia Ishikawa and they will meet Malika Miyawaki and Grace Choi this Friday at 9:30am at Hyatt Court 1. At Kanoa Court A this Saturday at 7pm, Miyawaki and Choi will have their second and final game against Ami Tsukagoshi and Mimi Sakano. For the last game in the draw, Tsukagoshi and Sakano will battle Tan and Ishikawa at Fiesta Court 1 this Sunday at 4pm.

In the girls U14 singles, Tan leads the eight-player field and she will duel Coume Kaga in her first match this Friday at 4pm at Fiesta Court 1. Other pairings are Choi vs Sakano; Miyawaki vs Asia Raulerson; and Conatu Kaga vs Tsukagoshi. Tsukagoshi is seeded second in the division, which Julia Ishikawa won last year after beating Tan in the finals, 6-2, 6-1.

Pairings and schedules in the boys singles and doubles events will be reported later this week.