Hoo Wang wins girls 16 division

Wang

Hoo Wang won her very first age group championship after topping the girls 16 division of the 2022 Tan Holdings Tennis Classic last Sunday at the Crowne Plaza Saipan tennis courts.

The 14-year-old Saipan International School student repulsed the challenge of giant-killer Anne Lee in the finals, 6-3, 7-5, to rule the age group.

Wang, who was the second seed, kicked off her campaign with a bye before blanking Savita Sikkel, 6-0, 6-0, to reach the finals.

Lee, meanwhile, swept Isa Nishitani, 6-0, 6-0, in the first round before upsetting No. 1 seed Irin Chung, 6-0, 6-4, in the semis.

“I am very proud of my hard work I had put into tennis and I would work harder and harder to be the best. I’m dedicating my victory to my brother, my mom, and my personal coach Moris Villanueva, and my favorite coach Jeff [Race] because they have helped me a lot through my tennis career,” said Wang.

Asked what was the difference in the tournament that allowed her to go all the way, she said it was the support of friends and family.

“My friends and my family were cheering for me a lot. I’ve been playing tennis for five years and the Pacific Mini Games got me very inspired and motivated to work harder from second place to first place,” she said.

In the girls 14, Anne Lee finally hit paydirt when she beat top seed Hannah Chae, 7-5, 6-1, in the finals.

After getting a bye in the opening round, Lee breezed past Sarah Lim, 6-0, 6-0, to advance to the finals where the No. 2 seed eventually outdueled Chae in an epic matchup.

Stella Choi duplicated Lee’s success in the girls 14 when the No. 2 seed upset No. 1 Emma Lang, 6-4, 6-0, in the finals.

Choi began the tourney with a bye and immediately booked a finals ticket following a 6-2, 6-0 win over Jenna Pascual.

In the lone doubles division in Week 1 of the 2022 Tan Holdings Tennis Classic, Henry Choi and Lahunn Lam edged two other pairs with similar 2-1 win-loss records to win the boys 16 doubles.

Choi and Lam lost against Nason Wessel and June Yu,  5-7, 6-1, 10-12, in their very first outing, but aced their last two matches. They nipped Cody Shimizu and Simon Tang,  6-1, 1-6, 10-8, and Wataru Kadokura and David Kwon, 6-0, 6-4.

Wessel and Yu and Kadokura and Kwon also wound up with similar 2-1 slates, but Choi and Lam took the championship with a superior percentage of sets won at 62.5% compared to Kadokura and Kwon’s 57.1% and Wessel and Yu’s 55.6%.

Week 2 of the 2022 Tan Holdings Tennis Classic kicks off this Friday and will feature the adult competition. The tourney is being run with the help of the Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association.