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Miyawaki, Steele take boys U12 doubles crown
Richard Steele, left, makes a return from the baseline, while teammate Rintaro Miyawaki looks on during their game against Seung Won Lee and Andy Kim in the boys U12 doubles division of the 2016 CNMI Junior Tennis Championships last week at the American Memorial Park tennis courts. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)
Rintaro Miyawaki and Richard Steele smoked the competition en route to earning the boys U12 doubles championship in the 2016 CNMI Junior Tennis Championships.
The duo clinched the division crown after dominating Andrew Chung and Min Gi Jung, 6-1, 6-0, last Sunday at the American Memorial Park tennis courts. Earlier in the opening week of the round-robin contest, Miyawaki and Steele blanked Andy Kim and Seung Won Lee, 6-0, 6-0, to kick of their title bid on high gear. Lee and Kim went on to finish second behind Miyawaki and Steele after beating Chung and Jung, 6-3, 6-2.
The title win in last Sunday was Miyawaki and Steele’s first in the 2015-2016 season as they settled for runner-up honors in both the Tan Holdings Tennis Classic and PIC Tennis Championships.
Meanwhile, the pairs of Sunny Hyun and Marielle Lopez and Tony Kim and Michael Ren were the winners in the other doubles competitions in Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association’s last local tournament for the season.
Kim and Ren ruled the boys U18 doubles contest after winning against two teams. They first swept Steven Goodwin and Vincent Tudela in the opening week of the tournament, 6-3, 6-1, and then labored a super tiebreaker three set victory against Robbie Schorr and Ken Song last Sunday to bag the division title. The eventual champions prevailed in the opening set, 6-2, but failed to close out the title match early when Ren and Schorr eked out a close 7-5 victory in the second. The super tiebreaker third set was another neck-and-neck battle with Kim and Ren pulling off a 10-8 win after Song’s return went wide past the baseline.
Schorr and Song took the second place award as they earlier outclassed Goodwin and Tudela in another extended game. Song and Schorr dropped the opening set, 3-6, but regained their bearings in the second, 6-4, and then dominated Tudela and Goodwin in the last, 10-0.
In the girls U12 doubles, Hyun and Lopez won the championship against the tandem of Anika Camacho and Thaileena Raulerson, 6-2, 6-4.
