Fathers and sons lead doubles winners in PIC tourney

Richard Steele, seen here returning a shot to Anthony Gregoire in their boys U12 singles match in the 16th PIC Tennis Championships last Saturday at the PIC courts, teamed up with his father Randy to win the men’s 3.0 doubles title. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

The father and son pairs of Randy and Richard Steele and Gary and Colin Ramsey were among the doubles winners in the opening week of the 16th PIC Tennis Championships.

The Steeles took the men’s 3.0 doubles championship after surviving Pacific Islands Club’s Keoni Ichihara and June Keller in a three-set finale last Friday at the PIC courts. Randy and Richard dropped the first set, 5-7, but remained in contention after coming out smoking in the second for a 6-1 victory. The father and son tandem then kept its momentum in the deciding third set, 6-4, to complete the come-from-behind win.

In the men’s 4.0 doubles finals, the Ramseys duplicated the Steeles’ feat as the former also took three sets to win against Donn Dunlop and Nicky Nichols. Gary and Colin prevailed in the opening set, 6-4, but missed a sweep when Dunlop and Nichols fought back in the second with a 6-3 victory. In the winner-take-all third set, the Ramseys regained their bearings and posted a 6-2 win.

Meanwhile, coaches prevailed in the men’s Open doubles, while two returning players had a winning comeback, and the Kaga siblings—Conatsu and Coume—lorded it over against their fellow youth players.

CNMI coach Jeff Race teamed up with Saipan Tennis Academy mentor Peter Loken in ruling the men’s Open doubles division. They never relinquished a set against their foes, sweeping Dunlop and Raj Rai in the semis first, 6-2, 6-0, before dominating Moris Villanueva and Dong Min Lee in the finals in similar scores.

Dunlop arranged a semis showdown opposite Race and Loken after eliminating Steven Goodwin and Vincent Tudela, 6-4, 7-4, while Lee and Villanueva made it to the finals following a 1-6, 7-5, 10-7 victory versus Robbie Schorr and Tony Kim.

In the women’s Open doubles, Mikayla Lopez and Negahr Rastguiy, who missed this month’s 2016 White Coconut Classic, beat Carol Lee and Wendi Herring in the finals, 6-1, 6-3. The eventual champions marched into the finals after a 6-1, 7-6 win against Malika Miyawaki and Mimi Sakano, who advanced following a 7-6, 6-2 triumph over Marivic Rosario and Sally Lee at the upper half of the draw. At the lower half, Carol and Herring bagged the finals berth after ousting the mother and daughter tandem of Lydia and Tania Tan, 6-4, 6-1.

In the women’s 3.0 doubles, the Kaga sisters topped the round-robin contest after shutting down Elly Lee and Miae Yoo and Riko Ojima and Maaya Sato.