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Carol still in contention
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Posted on Nov 07 2019
The CNMI’s Carol Lee, seen here going for a return during a tournament in Japan last month, is still in contention in the 2019 Seogwipo Asia/Oceania Closed Junior Championships in Jeju, South Korea. (Contributed Photo)
World-ranked No. 128 Carol Lee survived an opening set loss to reach the third round of the 2019 Seogwipo Asia/Oceania Closed Junior Championships yesterday in Jeju, South Korea.
The CNMI player bowed to South Korea’s Hwui Won Wi in the first set, 3-6, but avoided the latter’s upset axe after sweeping the last two sets, 6-3, 6-1. The unranked Wi, before falling short in her bid to stun the No. 13 seed Lee, advanced to the second round following a 6-2, 6-3 triumph over Chinese-Taipei’s Chao-Yi Wang. Lee also came from a straight set win in her opening game (versus South Korean qualifier Minseo Kim, 6-4, 6-2) to move to the second round of the Grade B1 tournament.
With her pair of victories, Lee will be gunning for a quarterfinal berth in the 64-player singles draw today. The Commonwealth junior player will either face wild card Seojin Oh of South Korea or No. 2 seed Zhuoxuan Bai. Oh marched into the second round after eliminating Hong Kong’s Chui Kei Leung, 6-2, 6-2, while Bai also took only two sets to oust Japan’s Mei Hasegawa, 6-0, 6-3.
Meanwhile, in doubles play, Lee and India’s Vipasha Mehra gained entry to the second round. The No. 7 pair outclassed the South Korean tandem of Yujin Kim and Se-Yeon Yang, 6-3, 7-6 (7). Lee and Mehra were scheduled to meet China’s Yiming Dang and Le Yi Liu yesterday for a spot to the quarterfinal round. The Chinese duo moved to Round 2 following a 7-6, 6-1 triumph over South Koreans Hui-Gyeong Kim and Seoyoung Kim.
With Lee and Mehra winning their first round match, all but one of the eight seeded teams in the draw are accounted for. Top 2 seeds Priska Madelun Nugroho/Cody Wong and Bai and Ya Yi Yang eased their way to the second round, while No. 3 Zongyu Li and Jiaqi Wang, No. 4 Saki Imamura and Yeon Woo Ku, No. 5 Talia Gibson and Amy Stevens, and No. 8 Pimrada Jattavapornvanit and Kuan Yi Lee also needed only two sets to march into the second round. No. 6 Na Dong of China and Bo Young Jeon of South Korea were the only seeded players ousted early in the tournament, as they were stunned by the South Korean duo of Dayeon Back and Hwui Won Wi, 6-3, 6-2.
