Ashraf continues to pound away in Fiji

The youngest player in the draw is certainly making a name for herself in the 2004 ITF Pacific Oceania Junior Tennis Championships in Lautoka, Fiji.

Eleven-year-old Kanani Ashraf continued to dominate her pool in the girl’s 14-and-under division Wednesday, winning her third and fourth matches of the tournament to remain unbeaten.

Coming off successful opening day performances, Ashraf kept her focus and easily cruised to a straight sets victory over Ihana Letutusa of Samoa.

Ashraf outclassed her counterpart in the opening set for a 6-1 win, then carried over her charge to the second set and secured her third win with a 6-3 victory.

She then followed up her performance with another straight sets victory over Norah Browne of the Cook Islands.

Although Browne gave Ashraf a run for her money in both sets, the NMI representative kept her cool, remained poised, and headed to day three of the competition with a 4-0 win-loss record after closing the match 6-4, 6-4.

With the two wins, Ashraf secured a berth in the semifinals.

Ashraf is currently tied with Zinnia Leamann of the Solomon Islands on top of their Pool A. The two went head to head yesterday, however, results weren’t available as of press time.

In Pool B, fellow NMI netter Mayuko Arriola bounced back from a disappointing first day to beat Taakena Kaumai of Kiribati.

Arriola had her game on and put an end to her struggles by creaming her opponent 6-1 in the first set. She then matched the effort in the second set for a 6-1 clincher.

Arriola, however, faltered later in the day as she lost to Abbey Tere-Apisah of Papua New Guinea.

Tere-Apisah, who entered with a perfect 3-0 record, controlled the first set and easily posted a 6-0 win, but Arriola proved to be a strong challenger as she fought back in the second set, only to come short in a 5-7 loss.

Arriola took on Sala Amoa of American Samoa yesterday. The two had identical 1-3 records before their battle.

In the boys division, Ji Hoon Heo powered his way to victory in his only match of the day, crushing Manu Priest of the Cook Islands in straight sets 6-4, 6-2.

With the wn, Heo improved to 2-1. He defeated Uere Katang of Kiribati and lost to Theo Rex of Fiji—correction for yesterday’s article, which indicated that he beat Rex.

Results of his battle against Lorenzo Pineda of Vanuatu yesterday were not available as of press time. Prior to the match, Pineda was riding on a 3-0 record.

Also seeing action was Tim Quan, who dropped to 1-3 after a couple tough setbacks.

Quan put up a good fight in his first match against Yoichi Tomizuka of Kiribati before losing in three sets.

After dropping the first set, 3-6, Quan retaliated in the second and stayed alive with a 6-2 win. Tomizuka, however, came back stronger in the third set for a 6-4 win.

Quan suffered his second loss of the day at the hands of Sammy Ramoni, who as of press time had a perfect 4-0 record.

Quan, however, did not go down easily as he challenged Ramoni in the first set, only to fall short 6-7 (3). Ramoni would then take control and put the match away with a 6-0 win.

Quan played Yisong Guo of Fiji yesterday. The two had identical 1-3 cards before their match.

The four NMI netters left Saipan last Saturday to take part in the prestigious event. They join forces with players from Guam, Nauru, and Kiribati in representing the Northern Pacific.

Other countries in the tourney include Vanuatu, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Samoa, American Samoa, Cook Islands, Papua New Guinea and Tonga.

The tourney concludes tomorrow, Aug. 21.