Carol wins opener in Malaysia

Carol Lee, seen here competing in a local tournament, prevailed in her debut match in the 1st ITF Perlis Junior Championship 2017 in Malaysia last Monday. (Contributed Photo)

The CNMI’s Carol Lee had a rousing start in the 1st ITF Perlis Junior Championship 2017 after sweeping her first round opponent last Monday at the Tuanku Syed Putra Tennis Complex in Kangar, Perlis in Malaysia.

Lee is seeded second in the 32-player field and was paired against Poland’s Natalia Michta in the opening round. The Commonwealth bet won by three points in the first set, 6-3, and played even better in the second, 6-1, to make short work of Michta and move into the second round. In yesterday’s Round 2, Lee was pitted against the Philippines’ Melania Faye Dizon, who also needed only two sets to down Malaysia’s Lin Xin Tan, 6-1, 6-4.

Joining Lee and Dizon in the second round at the lower half of the draw were Thailand’s Natcharee Teerachodjiranon, Malaysia’s Eisa Wan and Nursharneem Shamduddini, No. 3 Zheng Hua Xiao of China, Japan’s Nanami Saito, and No. 8 and South Korea’s Chae Hyun Sim.

Sim marched into the second round following a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Chinese-Taipei’s Ya jo Hou and the former will take on Shamduddini, who slipped past Singapore’s Julia Daiya Barden, 6-1, 1-6, 7-6 (7). Saito defeated wild card Kittika Aeb Iem of Thailand, 6-2, 6-3, to set up a Round 2 duel against Xiao, a 6-0, 6-0 winner over Malaysia’s Nil Farah Fahrol Rodzi. Wan, on the other hand, pulled off an upset against No. 2 Annika Kannan of India, 6-1, 7-6 (4), to arrange her meeting with Teerachodjiranon, who topped Japan’s Yuki Sakurai, 6-3, 6-3.

At the upper half of the draw, two quarterfinals berths have been taken. No. 5 Chiara Di Tommaso of Australia booked one of those two Round 8 of tickets after eliminating Malaysia’s Nur Irdina Mohn Rosdi, 6-0, 6-1, and Japan’s Nanami Okamoto, 6-0, 6-0. No. 6 and China’s Yujiao Che got the other quarterfinal slot after ousting Malaysia’s Chloe Chong Zhi Jing, 6-0, 6-0, and Japan’s Akari Miyazaki, 6-2, 6-1.

Other players who are still in the quarterfinal hunt at the top half of the draw include No. 1 Jiaqi Wang of China, Chinese-Taipei’s Jou-Chen Chen, Kazakhstan’s Anastassiva Astakhova, and Thailand’s Laniana Tararudee.

Meanwhile, Lee also won her opening game in the doubles event. She partnered with Di Tommaso and they are seeded No. 2 in the competition. Lee and Di Tommaso swept Malaysia’s Chloe Chong Zhi Jing and Hannah Seen Ean Yip, 6-2, 6-0, to march into the quarterfinals.

In the Round of 8, Di Tommaso and Lee will face the winner between Thailand’s Pattarawadee Atidphokin and Teerachodjiranon and Japan’s Akari Miyazaki and Yuki Sakurai.