Ryu, Woo live up to expectations

Jimin Woo, left, and Sam Ryu in action during the 2021 Tan Siu Lin Foundation Junior Tennis Tournament last Sunday at the American Memorial Park tennis court. (Kimberly B. Esmores)

Sam Ryu and Jimin Woo lived up to expectations after topping their division in the 2021 Tan Siu Lin Foundation Junior Tennis Tournament that concluded last Sunday at the American Memorial Park tennis court.

The boys U18 doubles division top seeded team defeated opponents Andy Kim and David Min Soo in their matchup last Sunday with a 6-2, 7-6 victory.

The eventual champions gained access to the semifinals after getting a bye in the quarterfinals. The duo then advanced to the finals after sweeping their match against Daniel Kang and Jun Wang, 6-1, 6-3, who advanced to the semifinals after an easy 6-0, 6-0 victory over Jack Linden and Jesse Sablan.

The second-place duo made it to the semis after coasting past quarterfinals foes Dev Bachani and Cody Shimizu, 6-1, 6-0. Kim and Kwon later managed to upset foes in the bottom half of the draw after taking a 7-6(2), 6-3 victory in the semis against the tournament’s No. 2, Seongeon Heo and Sean Lee who advanced to the semis with an easy win against Serin Chung and Hye Jin Elliot, 6-3, 6-1.

In the battle for third, Heo and Lee faced off with Kang and Wang with the former prevailing with a 6-4, 6-1 victory.

Later, in the boys U12 doubles division, after a heated battle between Yutaka Kadokura and Si Woo Lee and Ryan Choi and Emmon Tang, the former claimed the title with a 7-4, 6-4 victory.

The winning duo first advanced to the semifinals after receiving a bye in the quarterfinals. Later in the semis, the duo took an easy 6-0, 6-1 victory over Jihun Park and Landon Pudney who entered the Final Four after beating Quido Lucas Jambor and Nathan Su, 6-4, 6-4.

In the bottom half of the draw, runner-up Choi and Tang struggled in their battle against Henry and Stephen Yeom, losing the first set 1-6, before stealing the win in the final two sets, 6-4, 10-8. In the semis, the quarterfinalists faced Ian Chae and Ki Won Lee in another close match, 7-5, 4-6, 10-3.

Sam Ryu and Jimin Woo lived up to expectations after topping their division of the 2021 Tan Siu Lin Foundation Junior Tennis Tournament that concluded last Sunday at the American Memorial Park tennis court. They are shown here with runners-up Andy Kim and David Min Soo during last Sunday’s awards ceremony. (Kimberly B. Esmores)

Despite losing their semis match, Chae and Lee prevailed in the battle for third against Park and Pudney with a 6-2, 7-6(5) victory.

In the boys U14 doubles division, Wataru Kadokura and June Yu topped the round-robin tournament after winning their match against Simon Tang and Nesson Wessel, 7-5, 6-4, followed by another easy victory against Henry Choi and Taher Shakir, 6-3, 6-0.

Tang and Wessel landed second place with their only loss against the eventual champs. The duo beat Choi and Shakir with a 6-4, 6-1 victory.

Meanwhile in the boys U10 singles division, Quido Jambor prevailed after sweeping all his matches in the round robin tournament. Jambor defeated his first competitor Jin Ho Park, 6-1, before moving on to face Michael Joon where he took a 7-5 victory. He was named the champion after conquering Nathan Su in their match with a 6-3 victory.

Su landed second place with his only loss to Jambor. He managed to prevail over Park, 6-2, and Joon, 6-4.

Park completed the Top 3 after winning one of his three matches against Joon, 6-0.

Cody Shimizu came out on top in the boys U16 singles division with a win-loss record of 3-0 during the round robin tournament. Shimizu coasted past his competitors, first besting Min Seong Kim 6-1, 6-4. Later he eased past Sam Culp, 6-2, 6-2, before racking in the title after defeating Andrew Chung 6-3, 7-5.

Kim finished second place after an intense battle against Sam Culp, losing his first set, 4-6, before stealing the win in the next two sets, 6-4, 13-11. Kim took a contrasting victory against Chung, hammering him in the first set, 6-0, before narrowly beating him in the second, 7-6(5).

Results of the rest of the divisions will be released in the next issues of Saipan Tribune.

The 2021 TSL CNMI Junior Tennis Tournament is being conducted with help from the Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association.