Finals picture shaping up

Three out of the five finals pairings in the singles division were settled yesterday in Day 2 of the 2005 Calvo’s Insurance Junior Tennis Fall Classic held at the American Memorial Park tennis courts.

No. 1 seed Ralph Buenaventura gets a chance to defend his boys’ 18-and-under title after holding back a gallant stand by Keith Gabaldon 6-4, 6-2. His opponent in the finals, set for 12:30pm today, is Nicolas Son, who defeated female sensation Mayuko Arriola 6-1, 6-3.

In consolation matches, Roger Lee beat Jae Wan Kim, while Ji Hoon Heo routed Ho Suk Chang 6-0.

There would be a new champion in the boys’ 14-and-under, as Tinian Terror Benjie Decena will play Henry Yang for all the marbles this morning starting at 11:30am. Decena, who ousted defending champion Russell Buenaventura in the second round, didn’t letup in his semis assignment against James Camacho and won 7-5, 6-1. Yang, for his part, outlasted Calvin Yang 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the other semis pairing.

Russell Buenaventura and Calvin Yang won their consolation matches over Win Woo Cho and Miguel Brostrom, respectively. Hunter Thorpe also scored a walkover win against Philip Park.

Like Ralph Buenaventura, Joe Motto Jr. returns to the scene of his triumph last year when he faces Rafael Jones in the finals of the boys’ 10-and-under beginning at 1pm today. Motto had a field day against Michael Grandinetti and swept him 6-0, while Jones defeated R.J. Knecht 6-2 to advance to the finals.

Consolation games saw Nathan Nutting sweep Jake Lee (6-0), Andrew Johnson do the same against Julian Pellegrino (6-0), Christian Miller skunk Angelo Jones (6-0), and Brian Mailman edge Ryan Baron (7-5).

In the lone girls’ 14-and-under singles match completed as of press time, Vivian Lee defeated a visibly overmatched Shane Jones in a score of 6-1, 6-1.

Two doubles matches also got done yesterday with Hunter Thorpe and Bradley Brostrom winning 6-4, 2-3 (retired) against Benjie Decena and Andy Nutting in the boys’ 14-and-under and Cody Race and Rafael Jones scoring a 6-4 win against Ryan Baron and Christian Miller in the boys’ 10-and-under.

Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association president and Calvo’s Insurance general manager Elias Buenaventura said he is happy with the turnout for the Fall Classic and said his company is committed to sponsoring the 18-and-under tennis event in the future.