Woo stays in contention

Jimin Woo, seen here going for a return to Sean Lee during a local tournament early this year at the Pacific Islands Club courts, is in the semifinals of the boys U16 singles event in the 2019 Pacific Oceania Junior Championships in Fiji. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

The CNMI’s Jimin Woo remains in the race for the boys U16 singles title in the 2019 Pacific Oceania Junior Championships after making it to the semifinal round yesterday.

Woo won the first set of her quarterfinal game against fellow Commonwealth player Sean Lee, 6-4, and was given the outright victory in the second, as the latter could no longer continue to play. Lee faced Woo despite nursing a flu since last Sunday and still gave his teammate a good fight in the opener before calling it a day. Lee needed all the rest he could get, as he and Woo will still have to play in the doubles semis today.

With Woo advancing, he will go for a finals berth in the U16 singles this morning when he challenges Brandon Fong—a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Mohearii Polin in the all-Tahiti quarterfinal showdown. In the other semis pairing, it will be Vanuatu’s Clement Mainguy against Tahiti’s Vaitea Molinier. Mainguy marched following a 6-2, 6-0 triumph over the Solomon Islands’ Junior Miki, while Molinier also took only two sets to move into the semis and beat fellow Tahiti bet Manovai Elie, 6-1, 6-2.

After topping Miki, Mainguy will team up with the Solomon Islands player in the doubles semifinals where they will face Eli and Polin. Lee and Woo will also duel a Tahiti pair in Fong and Molinier in the other Final Four game.

In other results, Hyejin Elliot and Serin Chung missed on their respective finals bids in the girls U14 doubles. Elliot and the Federated States of Micronesia’s Leilah Etscheit were defeated by Tahiti’s Vaiani Dusserre-Valleaux and Samoa’s Roselyn Tupuola in the semis match at the upper half of the bracket, 6-2, 6-0. Tupuola and Dusserre-Valleaux will battle the division crown against Cook Islands pair Te Akaiti Toa and Moana Une, who eliminated Chung and their compatriot Dreena Teapa, 7-6 (3), 6-0.

In the girls U14 singles, Elliot bowed out of contention, as she was defeated by Tupuola, 6-1, 6-1. The Samoa player advanced to the semis against Guam’s Alicia Addison, who ousted Etscheit, 6-1, 6-4. Dusserre-Valleaux and Une are the other semifinalists in the division after topping Toa, 6-2, 6-3, and Teapa, 2-6, 6-1, 11-9, respectively.

In the boys U14 singles, it will be Fiji vs Vanuatu in the Final Four. Vanuatu’s Zachary Sands will square off against Fiji’s Storm Charles Cornish at the top half of the draw, while the latter’s compatriot Maka Ofati crosses path with Noah Molbaleh at the bottom half.

The same four players will collide for the doubles crown, as Molbaleh and Sands made it to the finals after outclassing Tahiti’s Noah Ah Kim Win Chin and Aritea Cotti-Helme, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2), and Cornish and Ofati prevailed over the Cook Oslands’ Arikitoa Allsworth and Maka Maui, 6-1, 6-4.

The CNMI’s Daniel Kang and FSM’s Jones George are in the finals of the consolation draw and will take on the winner in the battle between the Commonwealth pair of Anthony Gregoire and David Kwon and Guam’s Jacob Jackson and Aarman Schadev.

In the girls U16 singles, the Solomon Islands’ Prudence Bird and Zorika Morgan, Samoa’s Eleanor Schuster, and Fiji’s Saoirse Green are in the semis. In the doubles, Morgan and Breen will take on Schuster and Penina Kamu in the finals.