Lee barges into finals in Australia

The CNMI’s Carol Lee marched into the finals of the girls U12 singles event in the 2014 Australia Post Margaret Court Cup.

The 11-year-old junior player stunned three seeded foes over the weekend to take the finals berth in the bottom half of the 24-player field. Lee will be battling the girls U12 singles tiara against top-ranked Kelly Gilmour of Australia today at 10am (9am Saipan time) at the Albury Grasscourts in Albury, New South Wales.

The Commonwealth bet started her campaign in the Post Margaret Court Cup with an outstanding 6-0, 6-0 win over Victoria’s Alex Freire. Then in the second round, Lee earned another straight set victory against the No. 3 seed Hana Kim, 6-2, 6-2, to advance to the quarterfinals. In the Round of 8, he faced another ranked foe and labored a 7-5 triumph over the No. 6 pick Mia Repac in the opening set before cruising to a 6-1 win in the second to keep her perfect record.

Next up for Lee was second-ranked Caitlyn Portela, who swept her first two opponents, but had her winning streak snapped by the CNMI junior player. Lee notched a 6-2 victory in the opening set to boost her finals bid and completed the upset with an impressive 6-0 win in the second.

Today’s finals will be a duel between two players who have yet to drop a single set in the tournament. Gilmour, who drew a bye in the first round, blanked Camila Bassi Felix-Vonarx in the second, 6-0, 6-0; swept No. 7 seed Charlie Hargreaves in the quarterfinals, 6-1, 6-1; and topped fourth-ranked Keona Mendis in the upper bracket semifinals, 6-3, 6-0.

Meanwhile, two other CNMI players also competed in the Post Margaret Court Cup and survived the qualifying tournament to make it to the main draw.

Chris Cajigan gained entry to the main draw after prevailing over Fiji’s Krishhan Raju, 6-2, 6-2, and Australia’s Bailey Thompson, 6-0, 6-0, in the qualifier for the boys U16 singles. In the main draw, Cajigan was pitted against the top-ranked Nelson Loso and pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the tournament. The 15-year-old player bagged a 6-4 triumph in the opening set and then eked out a nail-biting 7-6 win in the second to eliminate his favored foe. However, Cajigan was also shown the exit door in the next round after bowing to Andres Urrego Varon, 3-6, 1-6.

In the boys U12 singles, Michael Ren defeated Max Morton, 6-0, 6-1, in the qualifying tournament to get a slot on the main draw. Ren went on to drop his opening match in the main draw, losing to Alex Kevill, 0-6, 0-6.

The three CNMI players are in Australia as part of the Pacific Oceania ITF Touring Team and will be competing in another tournament later this week.