Beling, Abragan rule mixed-up doubles

Luke Beling serves, while teammate Joshua Abragan stays near the net during their mixed-up doubles title game against Peter Loken and Steven Goodwin in the 2014 White Coconut Classic Tennis Tournament last Monday at the American Memorial Park tennis courts. (ROSELYN B. MONROYO)

Luke Beling and Joshua Abragan triumphed in the battle of the Top 2 seeds in the mixed-up doubles event of the 2014 White Coconut Classic Tennis Tournament.

The top-ranked duo swept the second-seeded pair of Steven Goodwin and Peter Loken in the title match last Monday afternoon at the American Memorial Park tennis courts to cap their unbeaten run in the 38-team field. Beling, a tennis pro at the Fiesta Resort and Spa Saipan, and the junior player Abragan cruised to a 6-3 victory in the opening set behind the former’s big service game before laboring a 7-6 (7-4) win in the second set.

The championship showdown between the Top 2 pairs in the mixed-up doubles was arranged after they prevailed in their respective semis brackets last Monday morning. In the top half of the bracket, Beling and Abragan also needed only two sets to eliminate the junior players tandem of Seiya Eda and Robbie Schorr. The eventual champions had a 6-2 win in the opening set and wrapped up the Final Four pairing in style with a 6-0 demolition of Eda and Schorr.

In the bottom half of the draw, Loken and Steven Goodwin were pitted against the latter’s father Tim and junior player Malika Miyawaki in the semifinals. Loken and Steven had a tougher time against their unranked opponents as seen in their 7-5 victory in the opening set. The second-ranked pair eventually ousted the hard-fighting Tim Goodwin and Miyawaki after securing a 6-3 win in the second set.

Miyawaki and Goodwin later played in the battle for third place and lost to Eda and Schorr (see scores).

Meanwhile, the Top 3 finishers in the junior singles, men’s open singles, and mixed-up doubles received painted coconuts during the annual tournament’s awards ceremony. Bud White, owner of tournament sponsor White Coconut Computer Services, led the awarding of the unique “trophies.”
In the girls division, Erika Tuttle led the Top 3 in the U10 age group and was joined by runner-up Maria Gregoire and third finisher Hana Ojima, while sisters Conatsu and Coume Kaga and Jireh Warren made up the Top 3 in the U12. In the U14, champion Tania Tan was joined by Julia Ishikawa and Ami Tsukagishi, while Mikayla Lopez ruled the U18 age group, followed Carol Lee and Negahr Rastguiy.

In the co-ed U8, Jake Lee, Thea Minor, and Colim Ramsey were in the Top 3, while the boys U14 had Luther Lizama as the champion with Robbie Schorr and Tony Kim rounding out the Top 3. For the U12 age group, Ken Song made it to the podium, along with Sean Lee and Gang Min Kim, while Rintaro Miyawaki led the Top 3 finishers in the U10, finishing ahead of Ji Min Woo and Daniel Kang.

In the lone adults singles contest, the men’s division, Beling took first place and was joined in the Top 3 by Jeff Race and Moris Villanueva.