Sean wins Junior Davis Cup debut

Sean Lee, seen here serving during a local tournament, won his Junior Davis Cup debut in Sri Lanka last Monday. (Contributed Photo)

The CNMI’s Sean Lee had a winning debut in the Junior Davis Cup, as Pacific Oceania swept its opener in the Asia/Oceania Pre-Qualifying Event last Monday in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Lee played in the doubles event, teaming up with Tahiti’s Manovai Elie and the Pacific Oceania pair defeated Cambodia’s Chaya Chhieu and Samnang Nel after only two sets, 6-1, 6-2.

Earlier in the first singles match, Elie eked out a 7-6 (4), 6-2 triumph over Davith Sam. While Vanuatu’s Clement Mainguy eased past Nel in the other singles game, 6-0, 6-2, to secure the early win for Pacific Oceania.

With the sweep, Lee and company are assured of a quarterfinals slot in the qualifier. The Top 2 finishers in the four groups after the pool play matches will move into the quarterfinals. Pacific Oceania is in Group A, which also has Turkmenistan.

Pacific Oceania collided with Turkmenistan yesterday afternoon with the former ahead, 1-0, thanks to Elie’s win over Amir Bashimov in the opening singles game. Mainguy was slated to play in the other singles event and later scheduled to join forces with Lee in the doubles.

Pacific Oceania is hoping to finish in the Top 2 of the 16-team field to earn a spot in the qualifying finals that will be played next month, also in Sri Lanka.

In other results, Syria leads Group B following its 3-0 win over Vietnam, while Bangladesh completes the pool. In Group C, unranked Singapore stunned No. 3 seed Lebanon, 2-1, while Malaysia and Sri Lanka won the Group D opening games after blanking Bahrain and Oman, respectively.

Meanwhile, in the Junior Fed Cup, Pacific Oceania also earned a sweep in the opener after dominating Singapore in their Group B match.

Fiji’s Saoirse Breen topped Clare Cheng, 6-0, 6-3, while Samoa’s Eleanor Schuster outclassed Lerr Min Lim, 7-6 (6), 6-0, to secure the victory for Pacific Oceania. Breen and Schuster went on to cap their impressive showing in the first day of the tournament after slipping past Cheng and Trisha Mulani, 4-6, 6-2, 10-7.

Pacific Oceania was slated to close out pool play yesterday against Qatar and the Solomon Islands’ Zorika Morgan gave the Roxanne Clarke-captain squad a 1-0 advantage after beating Dana Mohammed Al Mudahka, 6-2, 6-2. Another victory over Qatar would have assured Pacific Oceania a spot in the six-team playoffs.

In other results, the Philippines downed Vietnman in Group A match, 3-0, and the former was also ahead of Bangladesh, 1-0, after yesterday’s first single game. In Group C, Jordan and Lebanon scored similar shutout wins over Turkmenistan and Kyrgyztan, respectively.