Carol, Tania triumph in off-island tourney

Tania Tan poses for a photo after her match in the 1st KL ITF International Junior Championship 2017 last Wednesday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Contributed Photo)

The CNMI’s Tania Tan and Carol Lee earned victories in their respective tournaments outside Saipan last Wednesday.

Lee gained her second win in the 2017 Junior Fed Cup Asia Oceania Qualifying Zone after prevailing against India’s Shaik Humera in the Singles 1, 6-1, 6-2, at the R.K Khanna Tennis Stadium in New Delhia, India. Earlier this week in their match versus Uzbekistan, Lee also swept her Singles 1 tiff against Yasmina Karimjanova, 6-2, 6-1, while the CNMI’s lone loss in the singles in the pool play of Group D came at the hands of Chinese-Taipei’s Joanna Jessie Garland, 2-6, 2-6, last Tuesday.

The 15-year-old Lee’s second singles victory, on the other hand, saved Pacific Oceania from another shutdown loss against India. The host’ Salsa Parag Aher took the other singles match after beating Tahiti’s Naia Guitton, 6-1, 6-1, and India went on to enter the win column in pool play after the former and Humera downed Lee and Guitton in their deciding doubles duel, 6-4, 6-0.

With the loss to India and its 0-3 record in Pool D, Pacific Oceania missed the playoff round and dropped to the bracket where teams will play for the No. 9 to 16 rankings. India also did not make the cut, while the unbeaten Chinese-Taipei and Uzbekistan joined Pool A Top 2 finishers Japan and China, Pool B’s Thailand and New Zealand, and Pool C’s Australia and Hong Kong in the quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, Tan moved into the second round of the doubles event in the 1st KL ITF International Junior Championship 2017 being held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The CNMI player teamed up with Malaysia’s Nor Aida Amir and they topped the latter’s compatriots Chloe Chong Zhi Jing and Hannah Seen Ean Yip, 6-4, 6-2. Though they swept their opponents, it was not an easy win for Tan and Amir as the pair was once down at 0-3.

“I’m very happy that I won today (Wednesday) in doubles even though I haven’t been playing the past two weeks because of finals at school. We were down 0-3 in the first set and 1-4, but had perseverance and came through in the first set. With this win, I have earned more confidence and became determined to play better and improve my game,” Tan said in a message sent to Saipan Tribune last Wednesday night.

The Commonwealth player and her Malaysian teammate were scheduled to challenge the No. 6 seed duo of Janice Ten of Indonesia and Ashley Kei Yim of Singapore in Round 2 yesterday. An upset over their ranked foes would move Tan and Amir into the quarterfinals where they will meet either the No. 1 seed Sara Nayar of Malaysia and Charmaine Seah of Singapore or the Japanese tandem of Momoko Ishizaka and Mitsuki Terao.

The on-going tournament in Malaysia is a Grade 5 event under the ITF Juniors Circuit and awards as much as 30 points in the singles and 20 in the doubles. The-15-year-old Tan currently has 5 ranking points in doubles and is ranked at No. 2, 235 in the world.