Schorr wins deadlock to take boys U14 crown

Robbie Schorr servers to Tony Kim during their boys U14 singles game in the 2016 North Pacific Regional Championships last Saturday at the Pacific Islands Club courts. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Robbie Schorr prevailed in a three-way tiebreak for the top spot in the boys U14 singles event in the 2016 North Pacific Regional Championships to gain the division title last Saturday at the Pacific Islands club courts.

Schorr, along with fellow CNMI player Ken Song and Tony Kim, finished the round-robin, seven-player field with similar 5-1 records. Schorr missed a sweep and the outright title win when he dropped a tough super-tiebreaker game against Kim last Saturday, 6-7 (6), 6-3, 9-11. Kim in an earlier match absorbed his lone defeat in the tournament at the hands of Song, 1-6, 6-4, 5-10. Song, on the other hand, was beaten by Schorr—also in an extended game, 5-7, 6-2, 10-8.

With the three Commonwealth bets having identical win-loss cards and still even in sets won/lost (11-3), the deadlock had to be determined by the games won/lost. Schorr ended up with a 90-41 mark to clinch the division championship, while Song settled for the runner-up honors with his 85-37 slate, and Kim slid to third place after registering an 81-44 record.

Sean Lee, also of the CNMI, was alone at fourth place with his 3-3 mark, while Guam’s Roman Merletti (2-4), and two more Commonwealth bets—Sam Ryu (1-5) and Eugene Park (0-6) rounded out the boys U14 singles field.

In the doubles, which also had a round-robin format, Schorr and Kim went unscathed to take the championship. The top-ranked pair of Kim and Schorr secured the division title and a perfect mark after easing past Song and Lee last Friday, 6-0, 6-0. Song had another runner-up finish as he and Lee finished with a 2-1 mark, winning their first two games over the tandems of Ru and Park, 6-0, 6-1, and Merletti and the CNMI’s Andy Kim, 6-2, 6-0. Schorr and Tony Kim, on the other hand, blanked the pairs of Merletti and Andy Kim and Park and Ryu.

In other results, the CNMI’s Michael Ren settled for back-to-back runner-up finishes in the boys U16 age group.

Ren partnered with Vincent Tudela in the doubles and they lost to Guam’s Camden Camacho and Kian Malakooti in last Friday’s finale, 2-6, 5-7. The CNMI duo made it to the finals after eliminating Guam’s James Hourican and Palau’s Samuel Nillasca, 6-0, 6-2, while Camacho and Malakooti prevailed over the Federated States of Micronesia’s Sterkis Abraham and Joab William, 6-4, 6-2, in the other Final Four pairing.

Ren also figured in a finals showdown against Camacho in the singles division and absorbed another defeat in last Saturday’s title match, 2-6, 2-6. Tudela, on the other hand, won his consolation match over William, 6-2, 6-1, to join Camacho and Ren in the Top 3.

In the boys U12 singles, it was also a Guam vs CNMI title tiff with the former’s Andrew Leng outlasting Ji Min Woo, 7-6, 4-6, 10-7. Leng earlier defeated Woo’s doubles partner Seung Jin Paik in the semis, 6-3, 7-6 (5) to move into the finals. Woo followed suit after a 7-5, 6-2 triumph over FSM’s Freddy Jerson, who was beaten by Paik in the battle for third place, 6-1, 6-2.

Paik and Woo earlier faced Leng and Thomas Ysrael in the doubles finale with the CNMI pair winning, 6-3, 6-4. Woo and Paik also had Guam foes in the semis, shutting down Aarman Sachdev and Dakota Gibson, while Ysrael and Leng topped Palau’s Ton Lomisang Perez and Jonah Ziegler, 6-3, 6-2, in the other Final Four duel. Perez and Ziegler settled for the third place honors after outclassing Sachdev and Gibson in the consolation match, 6-3, 6-4.