Carol joins elite team

Carol Lee will be playing in ITF Juniors tournament in Malaysia and Thailand in October. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Carol Lee’s outstanding performances in the past two months did not go unnoticed, as the Asian Tennis Federation has invited the CNMI junior player to join its select squad.
Lee, who won four ITF Juniors titles in a span of just nearly two months and soared to the world rankings, will be suiting up for the ATF Touring Team that will compete in two tournaments each in Malaysia and Thailand this coming October, according to Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association official and CNMI coach Jeff Race.

“Carol was selected on the touring team and it’s another great opportunity for her to gain more world ranking points. Carol did an awesome job in the tournaments in Morocco and New Caledonia,” Race added.

The 15-year-old is currently ranked No. 259, jumping from No. 287, after sweeping the singles and doubles events in the New Caledonia ITF Junior 2017 and getting the singles crown in the Open BNP Paribas Junior de Nouvelle-Caledonie early this month. Lee, who got her first ITF Juniors crown last month in Morroco, now has 171.45 combined ranking points—145 in the singles and 105 in the doubles—after her successful run in the two Grade 5 tournaments.

“I think Carol’s days in Grade 4 and 5 tournaments are numbered. She’s really into a different level now and I will not be surprised to see her competing in Grade 1 to 3 tournaments more,” Race said.

“If she can make it to around 180 or better in the world rankings, she may have a chance for a wild card at the junior competition of the Australian Open,” the CNMI coach added. “We are really proud of her and wish her continued success.”

Lee is now back in Fiji and competing in the 2017 South Pacific Open Junior Championships. The Commonwealth player won both her opening matches in the singles and doubles events for the Grade 4 tournament being played at the Regional Tennis Centre Nadovu Park in Lautoka.

In the singles contest, the No. 2 seed Lee drew a bye in the first round and downed the Solomon Island’s Georjemah Row in the second, 6-2, 6-3. Row advanced to Round 2 after eliminating Fiji’s Vienna Kumar Fong, 6-1, 6-1. In the third round, Lee will be battling unranked Japanese Kaede Tada, who pulled off an upset over No. 15 seed Kirijana Petreski of Australia, 7-6 (2), 2-6, 6-2.

Lee’s fellow CNMI player, Isabel Heras, was also entered in the singles event and drew a bye in the opening round before bowing to Great Britain’s Kiana Mokhtari in the second, 6-4, 6-1.

In the doubles, Lee and her partner Maxine Ng of Singapore are in the quarterfinals following their 6-1, 6-2 triumph over Japan’s Riko Ebina and Manami Ukita. The Japanese won their first match against Australia’s Chloe Katerdjian and Sasha Nelson, 6-2, 6-4, before losing to Lee and Ng, who will next duel Australia’s Chiara Di Tommaso and France’s Helena Mohamed.

It will be Lee’s third meeting against Mohamed and the CNMI bet is hoping to make it three in a row against the Frenchwoman after beating the latter in the singles finals of the two tournaments in New Caledonia. Lee had also played against Di Tommaso in both the singles and doubles contests in Noumea and defeated the Aussie in each occasion.

Meanwhile, Robbie Schorr was the third Commonwealth player to see action in the 2017 South Pacific Open Junior Championships. He challenged No. 12 Ryan Seggerman of the U.S. and lost, 1-6, 1-6. In the doubles, Schorr teamed up with Tahiti’s Jeremy Guines and they fell to No. 8 Cade Barrel and Kimi Kozlowski of Australia, 2-6, 1-6.