Previous Story
Carol triumphs in mixed doubles
The CNMI’s Carol Lee, seen here making a baseline return in last year’s Chuck E. Cheese’s ITF Junior Championships in Guam, topped the mixed doubles of the 2017 Oceania Closed Junior Championships held at the Regional Training Center in Lautoka, Fiji last week. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)
Carol Lee redeemed herself from a failed bid in the singles and doubles events of the 2017 Oceania Closed Junior Championships after topping the mixed singles competition last Friday at the Regional Training Center in Lautoka, Fiji.
Lee teamed up with New Zealand’s Finley Hall and after drawing a bye in the first round, the duo topped Australia’s Akay Cihan and Luciana Kunkel in the quarterfinals, 5-3, 4-2. Cihan and Liciana earned the right to face Lee and Hall in the Round of 8 following a 4-2, 4-0 triumph over Vanuatu’s Marlin Hannam and their compatriot Chiara Di Tommaso.
The CNMI-New Zealand pair needed nearly an hour to eliminate the Aussie team and after a few hours of rest they then worked only for 34 minutes to oust Australia’s Alexander Cmokrak and New Zealand’s Emilia Price, 4-2, 4-0, to claim the finals berth at the lower half of the draw. Cmokrak and Price came from a tough 1-4, 4-1, 10-8 victory over Aussie pair Jayden Court and Joy Andreou before bowing to Lee and Hall.
The eventual champions were then paired against New Zealand’s Ajeet Rai and Australia’s Lisa Mays in the shortened finals, which was played on the same day and was only a race to 10 match. Lee and Hall went on to outclass their foes, 10-6, and win the division championship after only 17 minutes. Mays and Rai made it to the title match after two hard-fought victories. They first slipped past Reece Falck and Ivana Popovic, 4-2, 1-4, 12-10, and then edged Joshua Snowdon-Poole and Helena Spiridis in the semis, 4-1, 3-5, 10-7, to face Lee and Hall in the championship game.
Lee played in last Friday’s mixed doubles after losing her quarterfinal games in both the singles and doubles events last Thursday.
Meanwhile, Isabel Heras settled for the runner-up honors in the single’s consolation plate finals after bowing to fellow Pacific Oceania player Georjemah Row, 1-6, 3-6, last Friday.
