Seeded players win in Round 1

Isaac Heo rushes forward for a return during his and Ken Song’s mixed up doubles game against Danny Jeoung and Malika Miyawaki in the 2018 Coconut Tennis Classic last weekend at the American Memorial Park tennis courts. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

The seeded players in the mixed up doubles event in the 2018 Coconut Tennis Classic made the grade in the opening week of the competition at the American Memorial Park tennis courts.

No. 1 seed Peter Loken and Daniel Heo eased past Coume Kaga and Ye Jin Son, 6-2, 6-2, to advance to the second round. Loken and Heo were scheduled to face Danny Lee and Roy Pangelinan—a 6-1, 6-1 winner over Irin Chung and Shoko Celis—last Sunday to battle for one of the quarterfinals berth at the upper half of the draw, but results of their game and other second round matches have yet to be posted on the event’s website.

Also aiming for Round of 8 berths at the top half of the draw were No. 3 seed Isaac Heo and Ken Song, No. 6 Eubin Park and Michael Ren, No. 8 La Hunn Lam and Ji Min Woo, Mingi Jung and Gary Ramsey, Danny Jeoung and Malika Miyawaki, and Dong Min Lee and Kazuma Nakabayashi.

Dong Min and Nakabayashi outclassed Anna Kwon and Isabel Heras, 6-4, 6-2, and dueled Lam and Woo in the second round last Sunday. Woo and Lam cruised their way to Round 2 following a shutout win over Andy Kim and Alvin Bang.

Isaac and Song also blanked Eugene Park and Hyunmun Cho in the first set, 6-0, and then recorded a 6-3 triumph in the second to arrange a second round meeting against Danny Jeoung and Miyawaki, who defeated Sam Cope and Ami Tsukagoshi, 6-2, 7-5.

Eubin Park and Ren needed only two sets, too to eliminate Joey Hong and Tisha Ferrer, 6-2, 6-1, and earn the right to face Jung and Ramsey in Round 2. Ramsey and Jung labored a 7-6 win over Andrew Chung and Vickie Izuka in the first set before dominating their foes in the second, 6-2.

Meanwhile, No. 2 seed Jeff Race and Jun Cheol Hwang led the Round 2 qualifiers at the lower half of the draw and were joined to the next round by fellow-seeded players Seung Won Lee and Moris Villanueva (No.4), Robbie Schorr and J.C. Ferrer (No. 5), and Helen Kim and Tania Tan (No. 7).

Tan and Kim ousted Alex Martin and Serin Chung, 6-3, 7-6, for a Round 2 date against Ryma and Sean Lee, who slipped past Hae Hoon Son and Anika Camacho, 6-3, 3-6, 10-6. Race and Hwang also played an extended game in the opening round before downing David Kwon and Grace Choi, 6-7, 6-3, 10-8. Race and Hwang were set to square off against Nason Wessel and Vincent Tudela in the second round as the latter pair outlasted Seung Jin Paik and Dana Lee in the opening round, 5-7, 6-0, 10-6.

Villanueva and Seung Won Lee took only two sets to beat Jun Wang and Martin Jambor, 6-0, 6-2, and were paired against Richard Steele and Saorin Oh in Round 2. Oh and Steele also made short work of their Round 1 opponents after topping Cojiro Kaga and Daniel Kang, 6-4, 6-2. Schorr and J.C. Ferrer also recorded a 6-4, 6-2 triumph against Hoo Wang and Wendi Herring for a second round collision against Steven Goodwin and Fanai Stafller, who edged Andy Lee and Sam Ryu, 6-2, 6-2.