Gregoire eases way into semifinals

Maria Gregoire returns to Maaya Sato during their girls U14 singles game in the 2016 White Coconut Tennis Classic yesterday at the Pacific Islands Club hard courts.
(Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Maria Gregoire cruised to the semifinals of the girls U14 singles division of the 2016 White Coconut Tennis Classic following a shutout win against Maaya Sato yesterday at the Pacific Islands Club hard court.

The easy victory against Sato earned Gregoire a Final Four showdown against Asia Raulerson, who got a bye in Week 1 of the two-weekend tournament. Also arranging their semis duel were Erika Tuttle and Coume Kaga as they prevailed in their respective matches at the lower half of the draw. The semis and the finals will be played this weekend.
Tuttle dominated the debuting Rei Sekiguchi yesterday, 6-1, 6-0, while Kaga took two sets, too to eliminate Riko Ojima, 6-0, 6-4.

Incidentally, Tuttle, Kaga, and Gregoire were also in the semifinals of last year’s girls U12 singles before they moved up to a higher age group in the new season, while Raulerson competed in the girls U14 for the first time in 2015 and finished fourth behind champion Mimi Sakano, runner-up Malika Miyawaki, and third placer Conatsu Kaga.

Miyawaki, Sakano, and Conatsu are now playing in the girls U16 singles with the former the only one to make it to the semifinals this year. Miyawaki was pitted against Sakano in the quarterfinals and needed three sets to slip past the latter and march into the Final Four. Miyawaki won the opening set, 6-3, but failed to close out the match early as Sakano came back with a tough 7-5 victory to force the supertiebreaker third set. In the deciding set, Miyawaki and Sakano still went back and forth before the former finally escaped with a 12-10 win to set up a semis date against Isabel Heras at the top half of the draw. Heras got a bye in the opening week.

At the lower half of the draw, it will be Grace Choi versus Tania Tan. Choi bagged a free pass to the semifinals as Ami Tsukagoshi is sick and could not play in the last weekend’s games, while Tan ousted Conatsu, 6-1, 6-1.

In other results, Andy Jung, Anika Camacho, and Thaileena Raulserson made it to the win column of the U10 singles, which has a round-robin format.

Jung topped Hyun Jin Joo in yesterday’s pro-set match in the boys U10 singles, 8-1 to post the first win in the division. The remaining games will be played this weekend with Joo hoping to bounce back with a victory against Min Gi Jung.

In the girls division, Camacho outclassed Yae Jin Son, 8-2, while Raulerson defeated JC Ferrer in similar scores. Four more matches are scheduled in the girls U10 singles this weekend before the division champion is decided, while results of other events will be reported in Saipan Tribune on Tuesday and Wednesday.