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Isabel Heras serves to Malika Miyawaki during their girls U18 singles game in the 2017 CNMI Junior Tennis Championships last week at the American Memorial Park tennis courts. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)
Isabel Heras had a repeat in the 2017 CNMI Junior Tennis Championships after beating Tania Tan in their girls U18 singles duel, 6-4, 6-2, last Sunday at the American Memorial Park tennis courts.
Heras, who clinched the division crown in the same competition in 2016 after outlasting Asia Raulerson in the finals, 6-2, 5-7, 6-0, successfully defended her title after earning a perfect 3-0 mark in last weekend’s round-robin contest. She and Tan came into last Sunday’s match unbeaten in two games and Heras went on to keep her spotless record after sweeping the latter.
Both Heras and Tan won against Grace Choi and Malika Miyawaki in Week 1 of the tournament to make their meeting last Sunday the title-deciding match. The girls U18 championship in Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association’s last junior local tournament for the 2016-2017 calendar was Heras second for the season as she also won the division crown in the 8th TanHoldings Tennis Classic against Miyawaki and Tan.
Meanwhile, the other singles events in the girls division had new winners in Hye Jin Elliot and Maria Gregoire.
Gregoire took the girls U14 single tiara after prevailing in her head-to-head showdown with Riko Ojima, 6-2, 6-2.
Elliot, on the other hand, ruled the seven-player girls U12 singles field, clinching the division title by stunning the No.1 seed and last year’s U10 champion JC Ferrer. Elliot caught Ferrer flatfooted in the opening set and cruised to a 6-1 victory. However, Ferrer fought back in the second set and defeated Elliot in similar scores to stay in contention. Then in the deciding super-tiebreaker third set, Elliot recovered and recorded a 10-5 victory to complete the upset.
The eventual girls U12 champion was unseeded in her division and advanced to the finals after surprising No. 2 Anika Camacho with a 6-4, 6-3 victory and eliminating Yejin Son, 6-2, 6-2. Son played in the consolation round, but fell short in her bid for a podium finish after Helen Kim won the battle for third place, 6-3, 3-6, 10-5.
In other results, Hoo Wang and La Hun Lam topped their respective divisions, while Robbie Schorr and Ken Song ruled the boys U18 doubles category.
La Hun went unbeaten (2-0) in the boys U10 singles, which had a round-robin format. He secured the championship after downing Nason Wessel last Sunday, 8-3. La Hun’s other victory was against Sam Cope (walkover) last Saturday.
In the girls U10 singles, Wang spoiled a double celebration for the Lams, as the former defeated the latter’s sister last Sunday, La Mee, 8-4. Wang finished the competition with a 3-0 record, while La Mee had a 2-1 mark to settle for the runner-up honors. Soarin Oh, who won over Dana Lee, 9-7, placed third.
Schorr, who reigned supreme in the boys U18 singles, added the doubles championship to his growing collection after he and Song outclassed Steven Goodwin and Vince Tudela last Sunday, 6-3, 7-5. Schorr and Song were undefeated in two games in the round-robin contest as they also swept Andy Cho and James Kim, 6-0, 6-0, while Tudela and Goodwin had a 1-1 mark to finish second.
