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Conatsu reaches milestone
Conatsu Kaga, center, poses with her fellow Pacific Oceania players after a training session at the International Tennis Federation/Oceania Tennis Federation facility in Fiji last week. (Contributed Photo)
The CNMI’s Conatsu Kaga hit a milestone last month after making it to the ITF Juniors ranking list.
Kaga joined the elite group of junior players in the world after advancing to the quarterfinals of the Vanuatu Junior International Open held from Oct. 15 to 19 in Port Vila. The 15-year-old swept Australia’s Lara Charles in the Round of 16, 6-3, 6-2, to move into the quarterfinals. In the Round of 8, Kaga was pitted against New Caledonia’s Ciara Cwagenbaum and bowed to the eventual champion.
With her quarterfinals stint in the Grade 5 event, Kaga earned five ranking points and is at No. 2217 in the ranking list as of Nov. 5. The Commonwealth player started joining ITF Juniors Circuit events only in June last year.
“I am happy to finally get my first ranking,” said Kaga, who has been in Fiji at the ITF/OTF regional training center for about a year after receiving a scholarship. “Training has been really tough.”
The world ranking is somehow a fitting farewell for Conatsu, as she will leave the training facility early next month to rejoin her family in Japan.
“My family just moved back to Japan a few months ago, so sadly I’m not going back to Saipan… I’ll be going back to Japan on Dec. 4 and I will continue to play tennis there,” said Kaga, who also joined swimming, running, and soccer competitions on Saipan.
“I have a goal. At the moment, some see and know that I am not a great player. I know that too, but I will improve and change that,” she added.
Kaga also played in the doubles event of the Vanuatu tournament, but she and the Solomon Islands’ Zorika Morgan were beaten by Cwajgenbaum and Australia’s Elena Micic, 6-1, 6-4.
The competition in Vanuatu was the fifth one for Kaga this year and sixth overall. She played in the New Caledonia ITF Junior Open and BNP PARIBAS JUNIOR de Nouvelle-Caledonie in Noumea in June this year and the South Pacific Open Junior Championships, Oceania Open Junior Championships, and Oceania Closed Junior Championships in Fiji in July and August. Kaga’s first ITF Juniors tournament was the Oceania Open Junior Championships in June last year, while her other singles win in the circuit was recorded in the New Caledonia ITF Junior against Japan’s Maki Kakizawa, 0-6, 6-1, 6-4, in the first round of the Grade 5 event.
