Carol, Pacific Oceania 3-0 in Billie Jean King Cup

The CNMI’s Carol Lee, third from right, is currently seeing action with the Pacific Oceania team in the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

The CNMI’s Carol Lee and her Pacific Oceania teammates are currently perfect in the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup after beating Singapore on the hardcourts at the National Tennis Centre last Wednesday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

According to the Oceania Tennis Federation, Lee and Papua New Guinea’s Violet Apisah took care of business by winning their singles matches to give the Islanders an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie before losing in the dead doubles.

Lee took out Sue Yan Tan in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1, while Apisah did it better by stopping Audrey Tong, 6-1, 6-1. Singapore then won the doubles when Tan and Vickie Wei Kei beat Lee and Patricia Apisah, 6-4, 6-1.

Last Tuesday, Lee and company improved to 2-0 after upsetting top seeds Chinese-Taipei, 2-1.

Violet Apisah, again playing No. 2, got the tie off to the perfect start beating Hao-Ching Chan, 2-6, 7-5, 7-5. Then Lee topped the Chinese-Taipei’s No. 1 player, Pei-Chi Lee, ranked 450 in the world, in straight sets 7-5, 7-5.

Pacific Oceania started its campaign in the Billie Jean King Cup on the right foot after beating fourth seed Hong Kong last Monday, 3-0.

Violet Apisah again gave Pacific Oceania a 1-0 lead after topping Man Ying Maggie Ng, 7-5, 6-2. Lee then took down the former Crown Colony’s No. 1, Ho Ching Wu, 6-4, 6-3, to clinch the Islanders’ debut. Violet Apisah and Lee then combined in the doubles to beat the same two players, 7-6 (10), 6-2.

Also in the lineup for Pacific Oceania are PNG’s Abigail Tere-Apisah and Fiji’s Saoirse Breen. William O’Connell is coaching the team.

A total of 12 nations are taking part in the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup. Joining Pacific Oceania (3-0) in Pool A are the aforementioned Chinese-Taipei (2-1) and Hong Kong (2-1), Singapore (1-2), Pakistan (1-2), and Guam (0-3).

Pool B has New Zealand, Indonesia, Chinese Taipei, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Turkmenistan, and Mongolia.

Meanwhile, the CNMI’s Colin Sinclair-led Pacific Oceania Davis Cup Team currently is in Colombo, Sri Lanka to play in the Asia/Oceania Group III tie this week. The event is being played on clay at Sri Lanka’s Tennis Association Courts in Colombo.

Sinclair is joined in the team by Vanuatu’s Clement Mainguy, Tahiti’s Gillian Osmont, Tonga’s Matavao Fanguna with Vanuatu’s Aymeric Mara serving as player/captain.

There are eight nations competing in the Asia/Oceania Group III tie, all vying for promotion to Group II: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Pacific Oceania, Jordan and Vietnam. They are divided into two groups with Pacific Oceania the top seed in Group B.