Race, Quan, Aikawa perfect so far

Netters currently looking to earn spots in the CNMI team to the 2006 Micronesian Games are on the right path.

So far, six men and five women are taking part in challenge matches, which will be used as a gauge to make the selection of the squad.

There was no surprise in the men’s field as top ranked players Tim Quan and Jeff Race lead the standings with perfect records.

Quan, who is home for the holidays, had a tough outing in his first match but showed the warrior in him as he bounced back from a first set loss to beat rising star Ji Hoon Heo in three sets.

The two were neck and neck in the first set and matched each other well until Heo found his touch to score an upset with a 7-6 victory.

Quan, who represented the CNMI in last year’s Palau South Pacific Mini Games, came storming back in the second set and scored a 6-4 victory before taking the match with a 6-2 win in the third set.

Quan then took on youth standout Ralph Buenaventura and posted a 6-3, 6-4 victory, and bagged his third win of the tryouts with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Nicolas Son.

For his part, Race has breezed through his first two matches as the former Chapman University star had his way against Heo for a 6-0, 6-0 victory and followed that with an easy 6-1, 6-0 win over Keith Gabaldon.

One of the top two players will have their perfect run come to an end this week as Quan and Race are scheduled to face each other either tomorrow or Saturday.

In the only other men’s match, Son bounced back and evened his record with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Gabaldon.

The women’s corner, meanwhile, is being dominated by University of Hawaii-Manoa’s Kana Aikawa, who has yet to drop a game in the three matches.

Aikawa, who like Quan returned home for the holidays, defeated up-and-coming players Lila Mailman, Audrey Motto, and Vivian Lee via shutouts.

It was the same story yesterday when Aikawa faced rising star Mayuko Arriola as the Rainbow Wahine kept her perfect run going and took the match 6-0, 6-0 at the Pacific Islands Club tennis courts.

For her part, Arriola was cruising in her first two matches and now has a 2-2 win-loss record. She lost a tough three-setter to Lee before facing Aikawa.

Lee had her A game on and surprisingly took the first set, 6-4, before Arriola retaliated with a 6-2 victory in the second set. The two then went back and forth in the third set and were evenly matched. However, it was Lee who pushed the right buttons to score the upset, 7-6.

Prior to the loss, Arriola had defeated Mailman in straight sets 6-3, 6-1 and had her way against Motto 6-2, 6-1.

Mailman had been the busiest as she already has four games under her belt. After falling to Aikawa and Arriola, Mailman came out strong to beat Motto 6-1, 6-4 and Lee 7-5, 6-2.