5 players get Junior ITF rankings points

Five CNMI players made it to the Junior ITF world ranking list.

Tammy Ackerman, seen here returning a shot during a photo foot for TAGA Sports late last year, is the highest ranked CNMI player in the Junior ITF. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

“The CNMI has more ITF world ranked players than any other country in Pacific Oceania,” said CNMI coach Jeff Race in an interview with Saipan Tribune yesterday.

Thailand-based Tammy Ackerman leads the list of CNMI players making it on the elite list and is joined by Mikayla Lopez, Negahr Rastguiy, Tommy Choi, and Colin Ramsey.

With Ackerman and company earning junior ITF ranking points, the CNMI is ahead of three other Pacific Oceania member countries in the race for the most players with Junior ITF points. New Caledonia has four, while Fiji and Palau only have one each.

“It’s definitely an honor to have several players with Junior ITF ranking points. It speaks a lot about our tennis program. It means we’re doing the right thing here and is heading into the right direction,” said Race, who in the past years has helped the Commonwealth netters dominate the North Pacific Regional Championships and quality to the Pacific Oceania Junior Championships.

“The next step is to have our players compete in more Junior ITF events and that will be a challenge because it requires a lot of money and travelling, just like that Tammy has been doing,” Race added.

The 15-year-old Ackerman has the highest ranking achieved among the five, moving to as high No. 951 in January this year. She is competing around Asia and so far has collected 32.5 ranking points (singles and doubles combined) and is currently ranked No. 1,007.

In singles, she has tallied 20 points, 10 of them came from Round of 16 stint in the Chang Thailand ITF Juniors G4 and 5 each from Rajshahi International Junior Tennis Championships 2014 in Bangladesh and 50th Brunei ITF Junior Circuit where she also made it to the Round of 16.

In doubles, Ackerman received 15 points from her runner-up finish in the Rajshahi International Junior Tennis Championships, 10 apiece in Indonesia’s AGS 2 International Junior Championships G4 and Widjojo Soejono (quarterfinals) and 28th Bangladesh ITF Junior Tennis Championships, and 5 in the IT&E Northern Marianas Junior Championships.

Overall, Ackerman has a 6-14 record in singles and 10-16 in doubles.

The two other female CNMI players—Lopez and Rastguiy—got ranking points for advancing to the quarterfinals of last year’s IT&E Northern Marianas Junior Championships. They won over Japan’s Haruka Okawara and Minori Otsuka, 6-3, 6-4, before falling to Ayano Shimizu and Yurie Takanishi, 1-6, 3-6, in the quarterfinals.

Lopez, who had his highest ranking at No. 1,580 after the IT&E-sponsored event, also made it to the main draw of the singles, but lost to Hong Kong’s Venia Yeung in the first round, 4-6, 0-6. She is currently ranked No 2,076, tied with Rastguiy, who missed the main draw of the IT&E contest and was once at No. 1,956 after their doubles win.

In the boys division, Choi was once ranked at No. 1,793 after he teamed up with Amami Sakano in beating Eikoh Hayashi and Jake Lee, 6-4, 6-1, in the Round of 16 of the IT&E tournament. Choi also joined the singles event in the Saipan-hosted Junior ITF event and the Guam Junior ITF, but was eliminated in the opening round of both competitions.

Ramsey was ranked as high as No. 1,480 and is now at No. 1,571. He got 5 ranking points for downing Seiya Eda, 7-5, 6-2, in the Round of 32 of last year’s IT&E Junior ITF event.