Previous Story
Lee falls short in semis bid
Lee
Carol Lee missed a chance to advance further in the 2016 South Pacific Open Junior Championships after losing an extended quarterfinal game in Lautoka, Fiji last Friday.
Lee bowed to the U.S. Sara Tsukamoto in three sets of their Round of 8 match at the bottom half of the draw. The fifth-ranked Lee stunned the No. 3 seed Tsukamoto in the opening set, 7-6 (3), before the latter bounced back with a 6-2 win in the second to stay in contention. Tsukamoto went on to avoid Lee’s upset axe after surviving the thrilling third set, 7-5.
The US bet eventually made it to the finals after eliminating Hong Kong’s Claudia Ng in the semis, 6-2, 6-3, before losing to the top-ranked Kaitlin Staines in the finals. The Aussie swept her way to the title win, 6-4, 6-4, to complete her domination in the Grade 4 tournament. Staines also won the doubles crown, as she and Ng outclassed Singapore’s Maxine Ng and Hong Kong’s Wing Sze Yu in the finals, 6-3, 6-1.
Meanwhile, Lee will be back on the court this week as she competes in another ITF Junior ranking tournament—the Oceania Open Junior Championships.
Lee is seeded higher (No. 4) in this Grade 5 competition that will also take place in Fiji, starting today.
The CNMI bet drew a bye in the first round and will not be seeing action until tomorrow when she takes on either Japanese qualifier Aina Otsuka or New Zealand’s Holly Stewart. With Lee ranked fourth and on top of the draw, she may likely cross path anew with Tsukamoto, who is seeded third in the tournament. Staines is also playing in the Oceania competition and is ranked first after conquering the earlier Grade 4 event.
Lee’s fellow CNMI players Tania Tan and Isabel Heras will participate, too in their second straight ranking tournament in Fiji. Tan is paired against Japanese qualifier Kaeda Tada, while Heras is pitted against Australia’s Luciana Kunkel.
