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Schorr, Miyawaki deliver
Robbie Schorr, seen here serving during a local tournament last year, won the boys U18 singles crown in the 2017 NMITA Junior Fun Tennis Tournament held over the weekend at the Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan and Kanoa Resort courts. (Contributed Photo)
Top-ranked Robbie Schorr and Malika Miyawaki lived up to their lofty billing after winning the boys and girls U18 singles titles in the 2017 NMITA Junior Fun Tennis Tournament held over the weekend at the Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan and Kanoa Resort courts.
The No. 1 seed Schorr clinched the division crown following an 8-1 triumph over No. 4 Vincent Tudela in last Sunday’s pro-set finals. Schorr gave up no more than two points to his opponents in the shortened tournament en route to ruling the division. In his first game against Colin Ramsey at the upper half of the draw, Schorr won by 6, 8-2. Ramsey earned the right to face Schorr after eliminating Steven Goodwin, 8-5.
Next up for Schorr was his perennial rival Ken Song and the former eased past the latter, 8-2, to set up a finals duel against Tudela. Song earlier downed Ken Xue, 8-1, to arrange a semis showdown against Schorr at the top half of the bracket.
At the lower half, Tudela marched into the semifinals following an 8-2 victory over Tony Kim, who defeated Sean Lee, 8-3, before faltering in his Final Four bid. Tudela was then paired against Michael Ren and the former got a free pass to the finals after winning via walkover in the semis. Ren, before failing to play in the semis match, knocked out Luther Lizama to barge into the Final Four. Lizama earlier won his first game after shutting down Andy Cho.
In the girls U18 singles, Miyawaki eased her way to the Promised Land. She dominated Riko Ojima in the semis, 8-1, and then hammered Grace Choi in the finals, 8-0. Choi set up a finals showdown against Miyawaki after beating Maria Gregoire, 8-3. Gregoire settled for the third place honors following an 8-3 victory against Ojima.
In other results, Eubin Park and Lamee Lam completed the champions’ circle in last weekend’s tournament after ruling the boys U12 singles and mini tennis events, respectively.
Lam earned four victories to gain the division title. She first defeated Jenny Kim, 4-0, and then topped Jun Zhang in similar scores to reach the semifinals of the 16-player field. In the semis, Lam edged Ashley Jeon, 4-2, while in the finals, the former outclassed Fanai Staffler, 4-2. Staffler moved into the title game following a 4-2 triumph over Serin Chung. Jeon also prevailed against Chung, 4-2, to finish third in the division.
In the boys U12 singles, the unranked Park completed his upset run in the division after stunning No. 1 seed Anthony Gregoire in the finals, 8-2. Park earlier pulled the rug under third-ranked Jiwoong Kwon, 8-4, and No. 2 seed Jaeyun Jung in the semis, 8-2, to move closer to the championship. Gregoire, on the other hand, made it to the finals after ousting No. 4 Andrew Chung, 8-3. Chung ended up in third place after edging Jung in an extended consolation game, 9-8.
