Crucial tiffs this weekend at junior champs

Tania Tan, center, receives her NMASA/ TSL Foundation Student Athlete of the Month (February) prize from Tan Siu Lin Foundation manager Maggie Sablan, right, in a brief ceremony at the foundation office yesterday at the JP Centre Building. Also in the photo is Tania?s mother, Lydia. The younger Tan will be playing in this weekend?s 2014 CNMI Junior Tennis Championships. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

An interesting battle will take place this weekend in the girls U14 doubles event in the 2014 CNMI Junior Tennis Championships.
The duo of Tania Tan and Julia Ishikawa will be squaring off against the tandem of Grace Choi and Malika Miyawaki with the first pair going for a win that would give the team the division championship. Tan and Ishikawa moved one victory away from clinching the girls U14 doubles crown after beating Ami Tsukagoshi and Mimi Sakano last Saturday at the Pacific Islands Club Saipan hard court, 6-0, 6-3. Sakano and Tsukagoshi returned to PIC and downed Choi and Miyawaki, 7-5, 6-3, to remain in contention.

The round-robin event will have its final game this weekend and if Choi and Miyawaki pull off an upset over Tan and Ishikawa, all three teams could end up with similar 1-1 records.

Meanwhile, the other girls doubles event—U12—also has a round-robin format with four pairs fighting for the championship.

Jireh Warren and Asia Raulerson drew first blood after sweeping Erika Tuttle and Tiara Imai last Saturday, 6-4, 6-0. Susan Sablan and Maaya Sato and siblings Conatsu and Coume Kaga are the two other pairs entered in the girls U12 doubles and they will play three games this weekend at PIC and Kanoa Resort hard courts.

In the boys U12 doubles, there are only three teams with Sean Lee and Aditya Rai recording the first win in the opening week of the annual competition. Lee and Rai dueled Daniel Kang and Ji Min Woo and lost the first set, 3-6, before recovering in the last two to steal the win. Rai and Lee coasted past their foes in the second set, 6-2, and completed the comeback with a tough 10-5 triumph in the third set. Siblings Eugene and Eu Bin Park are also competing in the division.

In the boys U14 doubles, Tony Kim teamed up with Vincent Tudela in defeating Robbie Schorr and Steven Goodwin, 6-3, 6-3, last Saturday at the Kanoa Resort hard courts. Haruya Eda and Ken Song is also entered in the event and played their first game against Kim and Tudela last Sunday, but results of the match were unavailable at press time.

Three teams are also battling for the U18 doubles crown. The list includes the pairs of Thea Minor and Jake Lee, Daniel Park and Michael Ren, and Tommy Choi and Amami Sakano. Lee and Minor won their opening game against Park and Ren last Saturday at PIC, 6-3, 6-1.

The remaining doubles matches in all doubles divisions and the title games in the singles events will be played this weekend.