Lee advances in NZ tourney

Carol Lee is in New Zealand, competing in the Auckland ITF Indoor Championships 2016 at the Scarbro Tennis Centre in Auckland. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

CNMI junior tennis player Carol Lee eased through the third round of the Auckland ITF Indoor Championships 2016 at the Scarbro Tennis Centre in Auckland, New Zealand.

Lee is seeded third in the ranking tournament and drew a bye in the first round. She was then pitted against the unseeded Kinjana Petreski of Australia in the second round of the lower half of the draw and cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 victory yesterday.

With the win, Lee is now the only Pacific Oceania player in contention for the singles crown as Palau’s Ayana Rengiil and Samoa’s Lyla Tapusoa lost their respective matches. Tapusoa was the first to be eliminated as she fell to New Zealand wild card entry Kalais Going in the first round last Tuesday, 3-6, 3-6. Rengiil, on the other hand, got a bye in the opening round after earning the No. 7 seed in the draw, but she was stunned by Australia’s Natasa Ilic, 2-6, 1-6, in yesterday’s Round 2 match.

In the third round, which will be played today, the 14-year-old Lee is paired against the unranked Amelia Lawson of New Zealand. The Kiwi bet moved into Round 3 following her 6-4, 6-0 triumph over Australia’s Gabriella Ioannou and 6-2, 2-0 (retired) victory versus compatriot Ivy McLean.

A win over Lawson will bring Lee to the quarterfinal round where she may face the victor in the New Zealand-Australia duel between the No. 5 seed Oleksandra Kalachova and Helena Spiridis.

Meanwhile, the CNMI junior player is also entered in doubles event of the Grade 5 tournament. She is joining forces Rengiil and the two Pacific Oceania bets are seeded third in the division. They got a bye in yesterday’s first round and will play their first game today against the pair of New Zealand’s Amily Suga and Australia’s Angelina Esabella Teakaraaanga. The Kiwi-Australian duo barged into the second round after downing New Zealand’s Jordan Berry and Going, 6-4, 7-6 (5).

Lee is hoping to get as many wins in both the singles and doubles events in the New Zealand tournament to improve her Junior ITF world rankings. She is ranked No. 443 going into last Tuesday’s opening round.

If she prevails in today’s third round, she is already assured of five ranking points in the singles. In the doubles, Lee also needs to make it to the Round of 8 to claim 5 more markers. The singles champion in the indoor competition will take home 30 ranking points, while the doubles winner will get 20.