3 junior players triumph in Fiji Open

Conatsu Kaga, seen here getting ready to serve during a local tournament last year, won the girls 15 doubles title (with Zorika Morgan) in the Fiji Open last week in Nadi. (Contributed Photo)

Three junior players continue to make the CNMI proud with yet another successful run in an off-island tournament.

Fresh from her doubles title conquest in the RUC Tennis Junior Open in Casablanca, Morocco, Carol Lee added the doubles crown in the Fiji Tattslotto Open Tennis Championships 2017 to her growing collection.

The Commonwealth player teamed up with South Africa’s Roxanne Clark in winning the women’s open doubles championship of the oldest tennis tournament in Fiji played last week at the Fiji Denerau Golf and Racquet Club in Nadi. Lee and Clark, the top-ranked pair in the 110th staging of the annual competition, swept singles champion Steffie Carruthers and Eleanor Schuster of Samoa in the finals, 6-4, 6-0.

Lee and Clark, who are in Fiji training at the ITF/OTF regional facility, did not drop a single set en route to ruling the competitive women’s doubles field. They first posted a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Tahiti’s Kendra Paea and Silema Taufa to move into the title game. The Tahiti players earned the right to challenge Lee and Clark for the finals berth at the top half of the draw after downing the Solomon Islands’ Georgemiah Row and Vinda Teally, 6-2, 7-5.

At the bottom half of the field, Carruthers and Schuster made it to the finals after pulling off a 4-6, 6-3, 10-4 win over No. 2 seed Seal Corbett and Craigie McCullough of Australia. The Aussie pair got an outright entry to the semis after drawing a bye, while the Samoan duo notched a Final Four berth following their 6-1, 6-0 victory against Fiji’s Ruby Coffin and Vienna Kumar.

Meanwhile, Ji Min Woo and Conatsu Kaga joined the same tournament and won the boys 15 singles and girls doubles titles, respectively.

Woo, a finalist in 2017 West Pacific Regional Championships held early this month, was the No. 1 seed in the 16-player draw and swept all his three matches to rule the boys 15 singles, clinching the division crown after outlasting No. 2 seed Vanuatu’s Maui Leflon, 2-6, 6-1, 6-3. The 14-year-old CNMI player bagged the finals berth at the upper half of the draw after eliminating Australia’s Max Van Berkel, 6-2, 6-1, and Fiji’s Abikash Kumar, 6-3, 6-2.

Leflon, on the other hand, foiled an all-CNMI title match after booting out Woo’s teammate, Seung Jin Paik, in the semis game at the lower half of the draw, 6-4, 6-2. The No. 4 seed Paik marched into the semifinals after topping Fiji’s Shantanu Shail, while Leflon followed suit as he beat Australia’s Thomas Quayle, 6-1, 6-1.

In the girls 15 doubles, Conatsu and partner Zorika Morgan of the Solomon Islands were unbeaten in the round-robin contest to take the division championship. Conatsu and Morgan prevailed against the former’s younger sister Coume and Prudence Bird, 9-2, and Tahiti’s Penina Kamu and Fijis Tisha Vinod, 9-2. Coume and Bird earned the runner-up honors following their 9-4 triumph over Kamu and Vinod.

The Kaga siblings, Woo, and Paik will remain in Fiji to train and wait for the North Pacific Team (composed of CNMI, Guam, FSM, and Palau players) that will compete in the 2017 Pacific Oceania Junior Championships. Lee will also stay in Fiji to play in a couple of Juniors ITF Circuit ranking tournaments and will make a side trip to New Calendonia for a few more competitions.