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Jr. tennis players make Nov. honor rolls
Daniel Kim serves during his and Anthony Gregoire’s boys U12 doubles game against Rintaro Miyawaki and Richard Steele in the 8th TanHoldings Tennis Classic last month at the Hyatt Regency Saipan courts. (Contributed Photo)
Junior tennis players Anika Camacho and Daniel Kang got the Tan Siu Lin Foundation/Northern Marianas Sports Association Student Athletes of the Month (for November) awards after their strong showings in the 8th Annual TanHoldings Tennis Classic.
Kang won two division titles in the annual tournament, while Camacho earned one.
The No. 2 seed Kang first clinched the boys U12 singles crown after pulling off an upset against the top-ranked and division favorite Richard Steele in the finals, 7-6 (6), 6-4. Kang did not drop a single set en route to his title victory in the age group. He earlier swept Jiwoong Kwon, 6-1, 6-1, and then dominated No. 4 seed Seung Won Lee in the semifinals, 6-0, 6-0, to arrange a championship duel against Steele.
Kang also faced Steele in the doubles with the former teaming up with Anthony Gregoire and the latter partnering with Rintaro Miyawaki. The eventual singles champion and Gregoire went on to outlast Miyawaki and Gregoire in the round-robin doubles tournament, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 14-12, to boost their title bid. Kang and Gregoire downed two more pairs—Jae Yun and Min Gi Jung, 6-0, 6-2, and Andrew Chung and Brandon Lee, 6-1, 6-3—to rule the division.
In the girls U12 singles division, Camacho triumphed against two other players. She outclassed J.C. Ferrer, 7-5, 6-3, and eased past Helen Kim, 6-0, 6-3, to win her first singles championship.
Meanwhile, the TanHoldings tournament was the first event under Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Federation’s calendar of events for 2016-2017.
Up next for the CNMI junior players is an off-island ITF tournament in Australia in January. A couple of Commonwealth players (names to be announced later) were selected to join the ITF Touring Team and compete in Albury from Jan. 3 to 9.
Then in February, NMITA will host the White Coconut Classic, which will also be opened to adults players that will allowed to play in the unique mixed-up doubles event. The White Coconut Classic will be played in two weekends with Week 1 set from Feb. 11 to 12 and Week 2 from Feb. 18 to 20.
Other local and international/regional events under the NMITA calendar are as follows: PIC Tennis Championships in March; CNMI Junior Tennis Championships in April; Guam ITF in May, ITF Northern Marianas Junior Championships in May; ITF New Caledonia in June, ITF North Pacific Regional Championships in Guam in June; ITF South Pacific Open Junior Championships and ITF Oceania Open Junior Championships in Fiji in June; and ITF Oceania Closed Junior Championships and ITF Pacific Oceania Junior Championships in Fiji in August.
