14 CNMI bets to join ITF Jr. event

Moris Villanueva makes a backhand return to Michael Ren during their semis game in the White Coconut Tennis Classic early this year at the Pacific Islands Club court. Villanueva and 13 other CNMI bets will be competing in the IT&E Northern Marianas Juniors Championships that Saipan will be hosting from May 17 to 22. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Fourteen CNMI players will be competing in the 2016 IT&E Northern Marianas Juniors Championships that Saipan will be hosting from May 17 to 22.

World No. 705 Carol Lee leads the select list and will be joined by Tammy Ackerman, Isabel Heras, Malika Miyawaki, Tania Tan, Mimi Sakano, Ami Tsukagoshi, and Asia Raulerson. In the boys field, Moris Villanueva tops the roster, which also has Vincent Tudela, Robbie Schorr, Tony Kim, Ken Song, and Steven Goodwin.

“Among our 14 players, Carol Lee has the potential to go all the way, defending on the draw. It will be interesting how she will play against higher-ranked players. She almost defeated the world No. 46 player from Australia, so she is capable of going further in this month’s tournament,” CNMI coach Jeff Race said in an interview with Saipan Tribune yesterday.

Race is talking about Lee’s three-set match against the Land Down Under’s Baijing Lin in the 2016 Junior Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Asia/Oceania Final Qualifying in India with the CNMI representative stunning her favored foe in the opening set, 6-2. In the second set, Lee forced Lin to a neck-and-neck game before falling, 5-7, while the latter completed the come-from-behind win with a 6-1 triumph in the deciding third set. After nearly pulling off an upset against Lin, Lee went on to beat four other players in last month’s Junior Fed Cup.

“We don’t want to put too much pressure on Carol, but with the way she has been playing this year and with her experience in off-island tournaments, she really has a strong chance of giving us the best finish in this tournament.

In the first two years that the CNMI hosted the Junior ITF-ranking events, the Commonwealth’s best performance came from Mikayla Lopez, who made it to the semifinals of the girls singles.

While Race is expecting a lot from Lee, he sets a modest goal for the CNMI’s other female players.

“If they could make it through the first round either in singles or doubles, that would be great because that means they will be able to get ranking points,” Race said.

Based on the tournament’s acceptance list as of yesterday, only Lee is assured of a slot in the singles’ main draw so if there will be no changes, the seven other CNMI players need to go through a qualifying tournament and get a couple of wins to earn ranking points.

In the boys field, all six CNMI players are in the qualifying draw, but there could still be changes, as deadline for withdrawal is today and registration will not start until May 16.

From the boys list, Race is counting on Villanueva.

“On paper, Moris has the biggest chance to go further. But you can’t really tell what will happen to the rest of our players, as their fate will also depend on the draws,” Race said.

Besides the CNMI bets, this month’s Grade 5 tournament, which awards 30 points to the singles champions and 20 (each) to the doubles winners, will also feature players from Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Palau, Chinese-Taipei, U.S., India, American Samoa, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Philippines.

So far, Chinese-Taipei’s Meng Cing-Yang is the highest-ranked player in the boys field at No. 124. In the girls division, Japan’s Rika Tanaka is the top-ranked player at No. 295.