4 qualify in girls main draw of Jr. ITF event

The U.S.’ Sara Tsukamoto returns to the CNMI’s Carol Lee during their quarterfinal game in last week’s 2016 Chuck E. Cheese’s ITF Junior Championships in Guam. Both players will be seeing action in this week’s 2016 IT&E Northern Marianas Juniors Championships at the Pacific Islands Club. (Contributed Photo)

Three players from Japan and one from Hong Kong completed the main draw of the girls singles competition in the 2016 IT&E Northern Marianas Juniors Championships after they survived the qualifier yesterday at the Pacific Islands Club.

Sophia Hamada downed fellow Japanese Mua Shigeta, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, to make the grade and will be joined in the main draw by compatriots Saki Oyama and Mana Kawamura, and Hong Kong’s Alicue Yue. Yue also needed three sets to beat Nanaka Okamoto, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, while Oyama eased past India’s Amritalakshmi Shanmugam, 6-0, 6-2. Kawamura, on the other hand, automatically qualified to the main draw after drawing a bye in the seven-player qualifying tournament.

The girls main draw has yet to be released, but according to the tournament website, the acceptance roster in the division have 23 players, including six from the CNMI. Carol Lee, who made it to the quarterfinals of last week’s 2016 Chuck E. Cheese’s ITF Junior Championships in Guam, will lead the host’s campaign in the girls field and will be joined by Tania Tan, Malika Miyawaki, Ami Tsukagoshi, Asia Raulerson, and Isabel Heras.

The U.S. Sara Tsukamoto, who was the runner-up in the Guam event and is ranked at No. 492 in the ITF Juniors, world No. 295 Rika Tanaka of Japan, and No. 358 Claudia Ng headline the girls main draw. Several other players who competed in the Guam tournament are also on Saipan for another Grade 5 event. The list includes Palau’s Ayana Rengiil and more Chinese-Taipei, Hong Kong, and Japan bets.

Meanwhile, the qualifying tournament for the boys singles also kicked off yesterday with eight players advancing to the second round.

The Philippines’ Benjaminjacob Martin swept Japan’s Yuta Miura, 6-3, 6-0, to set up a meeting with Hong Kong’s Matthew Lee for one of the two qualifying slots at the upper half of the draw. Yee moved a win away from earning a ticket to the boys main draw after eliminating Japan’s Kaito Tanitsu, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4.

The other main draw spots at the top half of the draw will be contested by Australia’s Ethan Shoesmith and Japan’s Taiyo Yamanaka. The Aussie bet advanced after beating Japan’s Haruka Aomizu, 7-6 (4), 6-2, while Yamanaka ousted Hong Kong’s Tsz Yeung Chan, 7-5, 6-4.

At the lower half of the draw, South Korea’s Min Seok Sim, Australia’s Quang Hen Pham and Charles Dossetter, and Japan’s Ryuhei Azuma will battle for the two main draw seats. Dossetter boosted his chances to play in the main draw following a 6-2, 6-4 triumph over Japan’s Goki Satoi. He will be up against Azuma, who knocked off Hong Kong’s Kyle Tang, 7-5, 6-1. Pham also took only two sets to top Japan’s Makoto Mizokawa, 6-0, 6-1, and forge a showdown against Sim, a 6-1, 6-0 winner over Japan’s Kanata Abe.

The four games in the last round of the qualifier will be played today with the winners joining Top 2 seeds Cing Yang Meng and Cheng-Chieh Wang of Chinese-Taipei to the main-draw, which as of May 11 has 23 players.

The main draw for both girls and boys singles are expected to be released later this afternoon as the sign-up deadline for both competitions is set for 4pm today, while games will begin tomorrow.