Cruz, Minor claim mixed doubles title

 Micronesian Games veteran Bobby Cruz and junior player Thea Minor faced elimination twice, but managed to survive and win the mixed open doubles crown in the 12th Annual PIC Tennis Championships.

Cruz and Minor clinched the mixed doubles title against former CNMI Team member Tim Quan and girls U15 top player Mikayla Lopez after pulling off a 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) win in the finals last Saturday at the PIC hard court in San Antonio.

After winning only one game in the opening set, Cruz and Minor still could not get their games going together, and was only two games away from losing the championship when Quan and Lopez erected a 4-1 lead in the second set. Eventually, Cruz and Minor made a big comeback and won the next five games.

With their recovery in the second set, spectators expected Cruz and Minor to have the momentum in the deciding third set. However, it was Quan and Lopez who came out strong in the third, posting a 3-0 lead. Cruz and Minor played catch anew and managed to steal the lead, 4-3, however Quan and Lopez made their own rally, winning the next two games to move a game away from wrapping up the match, 5-4.

Cruz and Minor then broke serve in the next game to stay alive and the match eventually went into tiebreak. In the tiebreak, Quan and Lopez went up early, 2-0, but for the nth time, Cruz and Minor found ways to come back and after taking a 4-3 lead, the eventual champions hung in there and finally won when Lopez’s return from the baseline hit the net.

Cruz and Minor capitalized on Quan’s gamble to move closer to the net, hitting the ball strong and high and dropping it mostly to the baseline where the diminutive Lopez was waiting and at one point had to jump high for a return and missed.

The mixed doubles finals was played for more than two hours and came less than an hour after Cruz and Quan battled in the semifinals of the men’s open singles division.

Cruz and Minor advanced to the finals after a straight set win over Jodel Ferandez and Roy Pangelinan last Friday, 6-1, 6-0. Quan and Lopez also had a straight set victory in the other semis game against Christian Miller and Vivian Lee, 6-0, 6-3.

Other winning pairs last week were Dylan Ackerman and Carol Lee, Clayton Izuka and Alex Park, Emily Jones and Alina Ishikawa, and Julia Ishikawa and Tania Tan. Julia Ishikawa and Tan won the girls U12 doubles against Catherine Atalig and Mimi Sakano, while Alina Ishikawa and Jones topped Julia Ishikawa and Sakano in the girls U15 doubles finals 6-2, 6-3. In the boys U12 doubles finals, Izuka and Park prevailed over Michael Jones and Steven Goodwin, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.