CNMI U14 players stand out

The CNMI’s U14 players went unbeaten at the resumption of action in the 2015 Pacific Oceania Junior Championships yesterday at the Regional Training Center in Lautoka, Fiji.

Tania Tan, seen here competing in an ITF Juniors event held on Saipan this year, was among the CNMI U14 players who won their Day 2 matches in the 2015 Pacific Oceania Junior Championships in Fiji yesterday.

Robbie Schorr and Ken Song led the group’s strong showing in Day 2 of the tournament that had to cut short its opening day matches due to rain. Schorr, who did not play in the opener last Monday, came out swinging yesterday, sweeping all his two matches in Group C to boost his bid for the single-elimination playoffs. Schorr first topped Fiji’s Davias in the morning match, 6-3, 6-0, and returned at the RTC in the afternoon with a similar straight set win over Davias’ compatriot Favin Molotii, 6-0, 6-3. The fourth-ranked Schorr is now tied for the pool lead with Samoa’s Kristen Pavitt and they will collide today for the solo first place in their group.

In Group D, Song earned a 2-0 mark after recording contrasting wins over Kiribati’s Banien Ioera and American Samoa’s John Quin Lim. Song labored a 7-6 (6), 6-3, victory against Ioera in their nearly two-hour morning match before dispatching Lim in less than an hour in their afternoon game, 6-0, 6-1. Song sits alone at the top spot in Group D and closes out the pool today when he faces Fiji’s Nakul Sachindra.

In other boys U14 singles results, Vincent Tudela won his Group A match against Fiji’s Shabil Ajmeer yesterday, 6-1, 6-0, to bounce back from his opening day loss to Tahiti’s Jeremy Guines.

In the girls U14 singles, the trio of Mimi Sakano, Tania Tan, and Malika Miyawaki also prevailed in their respective Day 2 matches. The unranked Sakano was impressive in her first game in the tournament after blanking American Samoa’s Crustal Christman, 6-0, 6-0, in Group A. In Group B, the second-seeded Tan duplicated Sakano’s feat after shutting down Solomon Islands’ Christma Au. Miyawaki handed the CNMI girls U14 side its third straight set victory in Day 2 after sweeping Kiribati’s Caroline Mwang in Group C, 6-3, 6-1.

Meanwhile, Conatsu Kaga gave the Commonwealth’s U12 crew some good news after the top-ranked player went 2-0 in Group B. Conatsu got her first win against Vanuatu’s Desiree Signo, 6-0, 6-3, and made it two in a row after beating Tahiti’s Meherio Tautu, 6-3, 6-4. The undefeated CNMI player hopes to keep her perfect record in pool play today when she duels Samoa’s Leafine Cronin (1-1).

Conatsu’s younger sister, Coume, also won in Day 2, downing the Solomon Islands’ Prudence Bird, 6-1, 6-3. Coume, who dropped her opener against the top-ranked Eleanor Schuster of Samoa, will aim to close Group A with another victory when she meets Federated States of Micronesia’s Anne Skilling today. In Group C, Erica Tuttle must prevail in her third and last match in the pool against the third-ranked Zorika Morgan of the Solomon Islands to stay in contention for a slot to the next round. Tuttle went 0-2 after yesterday’s matches, as she absorbed close losses against Fiji’s Saoirse Breen, 6-7 (2), 5-7, and American Samoa’s Jireh Warren, 6-3, 1-6, 9-11.

Tuttle’s fellow U12 players Ji Min Woo and Seung Jin Paik and U16’s Amy Tsukagoshi and Isabel Heras also had a tough Day 2, while Carol Lee eased past her first opponent in the oldest age group competition of the annual tournament.

Woo and Paik are both winless in the boys U12 after dropping their Day 2 matches yesterday. Paik lost his back-to-back games against the second-seeded Sam Cribb of Norfolk Island, 2-6, 0-6, and Tahiti’s Elie Monovai, 1-6, 2-6. Paik will try to get into the win column in Group B when he takes on Guam’s Andrew Leng (0-2) today. In Group C, Woo also fell to his foes—Samoa’s Philip Warren, 1-6, 1-2 and Fiji’s Kelese Kofe, 3-6, 5-7. Woo plays his last pool game today against Fiji’s Maui Leflon (1-1).

In the girls U16 division, Lee showed no let up yesterday to dominate FSM’s Sunshein Palik, 6-0, 6-0, in their Group A match. In Group B, Heras bowed to Samoa’s Anasis Saipele, 1-6, 3-6, while Tsukagoshi had the same misfortune in Group C versus the third-seeded Georjimah Row of Solomon Islands, 0-6, 0-6.