Ackerman, 2 make Junior Fed Cup main draw

The CNMI’s Tammy Ackerman and her two teammates earned a spot to the main draw of the qualifier for the Junior Fed Cup World Finals after advancing to the finals of the 2015 Junior Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Pre Qualifying.

The CNMI’s Tammy Ackerman, right, joins her teammates and coach for a group photo before playing in one of their elimination round games in the 2015 Junior Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Pre Qualifying in Malaysia last week.
(Contributed Photo)

Ackerman, Palau’s Ayana Rengiil, and Fiji’s Mulan Kamoe are playing for the Pacific Oceania Team, which blanked Iran, 3-0, in the semifinals of the pre-qualifier last Saturday in Kuching, Malaysia. Ackerman and company were scheduled to meet Sri Lanka in the finals of the 14-nation tournament yesterday and results of their matches were unavailable at press time.

Before their semis victory over Iran, the trio swept their pool play matches to rule Group A and bag a semis berth. Pacific Oceania first stunned top-ranked Singapore, 2-1, last Wednesday. Kamoe won the singles 2 against Goh Loon Yee, 6-3, 7-6, while Ackerman fell to Charmaine Seah, 2-6, 6-3, 2-6. Kamoe and Rengiil topped the deciding doubles, 6-4, 6-4.

Up next for the squad was Turkemenistan and Kamoa and Ackerman sealed the victory early after sweeping Diana Bezrutchenko, 6-0, 6-0, and Arzuv Klycheva, 6-0, 6-0, respectively. Kamoe and Rengiil completed the sweep with a similar 6-0, 6-0 triumph over Maral Ahmedova and Klycheva.

Ackerman got her second win in the singles against Krygyztan’s Ansari Abildaeva, 6-0, 6-1, and her team notched another sweep as Kamoe also prevailed against Emma Nurgazieva, 6-4, 6-3, and Rengiil and Kamoe defeated Saara Kunakunova and Nurgazieva in the doubles, 6-2, 7-5.

With its perfect record on pool play, Pacific Oceania knocked out favored Singapore and set up a semis date with Group B runner-up Iran. Against Iran, Ackerman secured the win when she slipped past Yasmin Masouri, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2. Kamoe earlier gave Pacific Oceania the victory in singles 2 after she thwarted Sadaf Sadegh Vaziri, 6-4, 6-3, and the former later teamed up with Rengiil in sweeping Mansouri and Vaziri, 6-1, 6-0.

Regardless of the results Pacific Oceania’s finals duel against Sri Lanka yesterday, Ackerman and her two teammates are already assured of a trip to Australia, which will host the last qualifying tournament for the Junior Fed Cup World Finals. The Top 4 teams in the qualifier will compete in the world finals.