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Carol clinches title in Fiji
The CNMI’s Carol Lee returns a shot to South Korea’s Sohyun Park in the singles main draw of the Australian Open Juniors in January this year. (ITF World Photo)
Carol Lee got a morale-boosting victory heading into the 2019 Pacific Games after bagging the singles crown in the South Pacific Open Junior Championships 2019 yesterday in Fiji.
Lee, who will be anchoring the CNMI Women’s National Tennis Team in Apia, Samoa, notched back-to-back titles in ITF World Tour ranking tournament after sweeping the United States’ Jennifer Kida in the shortened finale, 4-2, 4-2.
The Commonwealth ruled the J4 tournament anew and will get 60 world ranking points without dropping a single set in the 48-player draw. She first shut down Australia’s Subi Surenraj to march into the quarterfinals where Lee also needed only two sets to eliminate New Zealand’s Kaitlynn Hart, 6-1, 6-0.
Next up for the world No. 118 was Japan’s Manami Ukita and the CNMI junior player eased her way to a 6-1, 6-3 triumph to move into the semifinals. In the Final Four, the No. 1 seed Lee was pitted against No. 3 Roopa Bains of Austtralia and the former eked out a 5-3, 5-3 victory to set up a title showdown against Kida. The U.S. bet and No. 8 Kida averted an all-Pacific finale when she dominated No. 11 seed Eleanor Schuster of Samoa in the semis game at the lower half of the draw, 4-0, 4-0. Schuster, before missing a finals duel with Lee, stunned No. 2 seed Lara Walker of Australia, 63, 6-4, to make it to the semifinals.
Meanwhile, Lee will remain in Fiji for a few days to work out at the Oceania Tennis Federation/International Tennis Federation training facility and prepare for the 2019 Pacific Games, which will run from July 7 to 20. Head coach Jeff Race, assistant coach Lydia Tan, and players Tania Tan, Malika Miyawaki, Ken Song, Bobby Cruz, and Colin Ramsey will meet with Lee and Robbie Schorr in Fiji before the group fly to Samoa for the tennis competition that will be played from July 8 to 19.
