Chung, Arriola take pole position in semis

Clear skies in the afternoon were not the only good news for Team CNMI in the continuation of the North Pacific Qualifying Tennis Tournament yesterday at the American Memorial Park tennis courts.

Jung Mun Chung and Mayuko Arriola made the home crowd proud after dismissing top-ranked opponents, while the rest of their teammates also put in the work for coach Jeff Race.

Chung, who was crushed after bombing out in the same tournament last year, was simply spectacular in conquering defending champion Adam Rudolph of Guam.

The 17-year-old Marianas Baptist Academy student went down early against the tourney’s No. 1 seed but fought back from a 4-3 hole to win the opening set.

In the second, Chung took advantage of Rudolph’s bum stomach to cruise to a 5-1 lead. Serving for the match, he would get three match points against the struggling Guamanian before he lost focus.

Rudolph was more than happy to capitalize on Chung’s lapse of concentration and forced the seventh game to a deuce before breaking Chung for a 2-5 deficit. He would hold serve convincingly in next game and appeared on the comeback trail.

But Rudolph’s rally hopes would be dashed in the next game. After Rudolph squared it at 30-all, Chung would hit a passing shot to earn his fourth match point of the game.

This time, however, he made it count. After a long rally that saw both players hit incredible crosscourt shots, Chung took a beat on Rudolph’s lob on the net and jumped high and smashed the ball with authority to end the match, 7-5, 6-3.

The rest of the CNMI’s 18-and-under boys faced off against each other. Nicolas Son beat up on Johnny Johnson, 6-2, 6-1, while Tim Quan nipped Ralph Buenaventura, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Johnson also won his second match of the day when he upended FSM’s Midion Neth, 6-1, 6-4. Guam’s Dean Dedicatoria remained on track to top his pool after easily defeating Neth, 6-1, 6-1.

Arriola, for her part, took more time than Chung but nonetheless was able to bring down another seeded player, Ayuri Sugahara of Guam, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3, in the girls 14-and-under age group.

Lila Mailman and Kanani Ashraf posted contrasting wins but like Arriola, are shoo-ins for the semis. Mailman dismissed Guam’s Terea Tapu, 6-1, 6-4, while Ashraf labored hard to beat Sugahara, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-3).

Vivian Lee of the CNMI didn’t do too well, however, as the precocious teen dropped another heartbreaking game against FSM’s Lolyn Neth, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-0. Other results in the age group saw Tapu beat Neth, 6-1, 6-4.

Persistence paid off for Dillon Thorpe of the CNMI in the boys 14-and-under, as he finally won 6-1, 6-2 opposite Mark Alex of Palau. Guam’s Justin Dugan was also victorious in the division after outplaying Lloyd Yamada of FSM, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0.

Guam’s Michelle Pang, meanwhile, continues to lord it over in the girls 18s. The defending champ’s latest victim was FSM’s Kim Yamaguchi, who fell 6-0, 6-0.

Yumika Sugahara also raised the flag of Guam when she drubbed Kelsey Isechal of Palau, 6-2, 6-1, and Na-Hee Heo of the CNMI, 6-0, 6-0. Isechal in turn took her vengeance on Yamaguchi, 6-2, 6-2.

The Heo sisters are trying to do their best in the age group. Na-Hee got the better of Palau’s Urii Luii, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, and Na-Sil took out sister Na-Lim, 6-0, 6-1.