Carol in Grand Slam event

Carol Lee poses next two the pole where the CNMI flag is raised yesterday at the Traralgon Tennis Association in Melbourne, Australia. Lee is the first CNMI player to compete in the main draw of the 2019 Australian Open Juniors Championships. (Contributed Photo)

History was made yesterday when Carol Lee qualified for the main draw of the 2019 Australian Open Juniors Championships.

Lee earned a slot to the Grade A event after notching two victories in the qualifying tournament at the Traralgon Tennis Association in Melbourne, Australia, making her the first player from the CNMI to play in a Grand Slam competition. A Grand Slam contest is the highest-ranked event under the ITF Juniors Circuit, sharing the same distinction with the Youth Olympics, as this kind of competition awards as much as 1,000 (singles) and 750 (doubles) ranking points.

An ecstatic Jeff Race, the Commonwealth junior team’s coach, confirmed Lee’s historic feat and wished the 16-year-old good luck in the prestigious tournament, which will start its main draw matches tomorrow at the Melbourne Park. It’s the same venue of the Grand Slam event for the pros featuring Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and other famous tennis players.

“Carol is now the first player from the NMI to play in a Grand Slam singles event. Go Carol!” Race said.

Roxanne Caitlin Clarke, who is Lee’s coach at the International Tennis Federation/Oceania Tennis Federation training center in Fiji, also has praises for the CNMI player.

“So proud of Carol Young Suh Lee for fighting through the qualifiers and making it to the main draw of the Australian Open Juniors. She may just be the first person from her tiny island of Saipan to achieve the feat,” Clarke wrote on her Facebook post, which was swamped with congratulatory remarks for Lee.

The world No. 152 had her opening game in the qualifier last Wednesday and took only two sets to beat South Africa’s Myah Petchey, 6-1, 6-4. Up next for Lee was Australia’s Natasha Russell, who moved into the second round after pulling off an upset over No. 7 seed and Russia’s Avelina Sayfetdinova, 7-6, (3), 4-6, 6-2.

The battle for one of the eight qualifying slots went down-to-the wire in the first set with Lee eking out a 7-6 (5) win. Then in the second set, Russell seemed to have regained her bearings when she jumped to a 2-0 lead. However, Lee, who missed making it to the main draw of her first tournament (last week’s 2019 AGL Loy Yang Traralgon Junior International) in Australia this year, won’t be denied for the second time, as the CNMI bet went berserk in the succeeding plays to complete the sweep, 6-2.

With the victory, Lee, who was seeded No. 15, became the lowest-ranked player among the eight qualifiers. No. 2 Federica Rossi of Italy led the qualifiers list, which also had her compatriot and No. 10 Lisa Pigato, No. 11 Valentina Ivanov of New Zealand, No. 9 Saki Imamura of Japan, No. 5 Martyna Kubka of Poland, No. 8 Maria Krupenina and No. Veronika Pepelyaeva of Russia.

The eight qualifiers will join the 46 players who were earlier lined up in the main draw, which has yet to be posted at the ITF Juniors website as off press time. The main draw will be released tonight at the welcome dinner for players at the Bayview Eden Hotel.