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Lee seeded second in New Caledonia
Carol Lee will play her first game in the Open Junior BNP PARIBAS de Nouvelle-Caledonie in Noumea, New Caledonia today. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)
The CNMI’s Carol Lee drew a bye in the opening round of the Open Junior BNP PARIBAS de Nouvelle-Caledonie in Noumea, New Caledonia after getting the No. 2 seeding in the girls U18 singles main draw.
Lee is at the bottom half of the draw and will play her first game in the ITF Juniors ranking event today when she faces Australia’s Chiara Di Tommaso, who advanced to the second round following a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Japan’s Kokomi Koyama yesterday.
The 14-year-old Lee is also the remaining CNMI player in the main draw after her teammates Isabel Heras and Tania Tan dropped their respective opening matches yesterday. Tan fell to Tahiti’s Naia Guitton, 1-6, 1-6, while Heras absorbed a tough three-set loss at the hands of Japan’s Hiromi Sekiguchi. The Japanese won the first set, 6-1, but Heras came back in the second, 6-3, to force a deciding third set, which Sekiguchi took, 6-0
Heras, Tan, and Lee are in New Caledonia as members of the Pacific Oceania Touring Team. Guitton is also part of the elite squad, along with Palau’s Ayana Rengiil, and the Solomon Islands’ Georjemah Row. Rengiil and Row joined Guitton and Lee to the second round after prevailing in separate matches yesterday. The fourth-ranked Rengiil was pitted against Australia’s Sophie Fry and won in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2. The Palau bet will next face Sekiguchi. Row also took the short route to the second round after sweeping Japan’s Nanari Katsumi, 6-3, 6-0.
Meanwhile, the doubles competition will start today will Lee teaming up with Rengiil anew and the two players earning the No. 2 rankings in the main draw. Lee and Rengiil will be dueling the winner of the morning match between Australia’s Ivy Mclean and Holly Stewart and Singapore’s Julia Daiya Barden and Ashley Kei Yim at the lower half of the draw.
At the upper half, the duo of Tan and Heras will challenge Australia’s Luciana Kunkel and Mia Katharina. The other Pacific Oceania Touring Team pair—Row and Guitton—will collide against the hosts’ Nikita Bouttier and Lysiane Moto-Nekiriai.
The tournament in New Caledonia is just one of the series of ranking events that Lee and company will be competing this summer. After completing the contest in New Caledonia, the Pacific Oceania Touring Team will return to Fiji for two more events.
