Previous Story
Carol gets semis seat in Belgium
|
Posted on May 31 2019
Carol Lee, seen here getting ready to serve during the 2018 Northern Marianas Junior Championships at the Pacific Islands Club Saipan hard courts, is in Belgium and made it to the semifinals of the doubles event of a Grade 1 tournament. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)
CNMI junior player Carol Lee made it to the Final Four of the doubles event of the 55th Astrid Bowl Charleroi/Belgian International Junior Championships in Belgium.
Lee partnered with Skyler Marie Grace Grishuk of the U.S. and they swept the Russian pair of Daria Krasnova and Ekaterina Vinnik yesterday, 6-4, 6-2, at the Royal Astrid Tennis Club in Charleroi-Marcinelle to move into the semifinal round.
The match against the Russian duo was Lee and Grishuk’s first, as they earlier had a free win in the quarterfinals against Germany’s Mara Guth and Angelina Wirges (walkover). Krasnova and Vinnik were also given an outright quarterfinals ticket after a no show from their opponents, No. 2 seed Zhuoxuan Bai and Jiaqi Wang of China.
After moving past the Russians, Lee and Grishuk will face No. 3 seed and the American pair of Hurricane Tyra Black and Gabriella Price for the finals berth at the lower half of the draw. Price and Black also needed only two sets to make it to the semifinals after they outclassed Isabella Barrera Aguirre of the U.S. and Tiwith Dirolami of Belgium, 6-4, 6-4.
At the top half of the draw semis, it will be the unranked Russian duo of Veronika Pepelyaeva and Avelina Sayfetdinova versus No. 5 Alexandra Eala of the Philippines and Australia’s Annerly Poulos. Eala and Poulos advanced following a 6-3, 6-4 upset against No. 4 Anastasia Berezov of Australia and Levlah Annie Fernandez of Canada in the quarterfinals. Pepelyaeva and Sayfetdinova, on the other hand, caught the biggest fish in the field in No. 1 seed Meil Gonzales of Ecuador and Antonia Samudio of Colombia, 6-3, 6-1.
Meanwhile, Lee also competed in the singles event, but lost to the Netherland’s Melissa Boyden, 4-6, 6-3, 2-6.
The 55th Astrid Bowl Charleroi is the CNMI bet’s first tournament in Belgium after playing in four events in Italy this month. The competition in Belgium is a Grade 1 event, which awards 280 ITF Juniors world ranking points to the singles champion and 210 to the doubles winners.
