Jr. players renew rivalry in PIC tennis

Steven Goodwin returns to A.J. Hudkins during their boys U16 singles match in the 2016 White Coconut Tennis Classic at the Pacific Islands Club early this month. Goodwin will be playing in this weekend’s 16th PIC Tennis Championships. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Rivals may collide anew this weekend as the 16th PIC Tennis Championships kick off at the Pacific Islands Club hard courts.

Ji Min Woo and Seung Jin Paik, who squared off in the boys U14 singles finale in last weekend’s 2016 White Coconut Tennis Classic with the former winning, may cross path anew as they lead the seven-player field in the same division of the PIC-sponsored event.

Woo is at the top half of the draw and automatically advanced to the semis after getting a bye in the opener. He will face in the semis the winner between Daniel Kang and Jack Jeoung, who will meet today at 5pm on Court. 2. At the bottom half of the draw, Paik is paired against Go Sekiguchi and they will also play today at 6:30pm on Court 3. The winner of the Paik-Sekiguchi tiff will march into the semis against the victor of the Daniel Heo-Sean Lee match, which is set at the same time on Court 1. The Final Four games are scheduled for Saturday.

The Top 2 seeds in the boys U14 singles are also entered in the boys U12 division and will be joined by Seung Won Lee, Min Gi Jung, Seung Hyun Kim, Daniel Kang, Andrew Chung, Anthony Gregoire, Isaac Heo, Rintaro Miyawaki, and Richard Steele. Steele won the boys U12 singles crown in last weekend’s Coconut Classic after prevailing against Kang in the finals and they may face again in the title match if they will survive the bottom and top half of the draws.

In the boys U16 singles, Michael Ren and Robbie Schorr are the Top 2 seeds and are already in the semis after getting byes. Schorr will challenge in the semis the winner in the Friday match between Vincent Tudela and Ken Song. Ren, on the other hand, waits for the victor of today’s tiff between Steven Goodwin and Tony Kim.

Meanwhile, eight other events will be played in the opening week of the two-weekend tournament.

In the girls U16 singles, Carol Lee leads the field and will be battling the division crown against Asia Raulerson, Ami Tsukagoshi, Grace Choi, Mimi Sakano, and Tania Tan. In the U14, Malika Miyawaki is the early favorite and will be joined by Maria Gregoire, Rei Sekiguchi, Riko Ojima, Conatsu Kaga.

Conatsu’s younger sister Coume is entered in the U12 singles along with Anika Camacho, Michelle Ryu, Thaileena Raulerson, and Erika Tuttle. Coume and Tuttle fought in the semifinals of last weekend’s White Coconut Classic and they are likely to duel anew for the PIC title this weekend.

The five other events in the opening week of the annual tournament feature doubles contest.

In the highly competitive men’s Open doubles, coaches Peter Loken and Jeff Race are teaming up and will be battling the division championship against the pairs of Goodwin and Tudela, Donn Dunlop and Raj Rai, Schorr and Kim, and Moris Villanueva and Dong Min Lee.

In the women’s Open doubles, Negahr Rastguiy and Mikayla Lopez are at the top half of the draw along with the tandems of Miyawaki and Sakano and Marivic Rosario and Sally Lee, while the mother and daughter pair of Lydia and Tania Tan joins Carol Lee and Wendi Herring at the bottom half.

In the men’s 3.0 doubles, father and son Randy and Richard Steele will face Keoni Ichihara and June Keller, while in the 4.0 doubles, it will be Dunlop and Nicky Nichols versus another father and son tandem in Gary and Colin Ramsey. In the women’s 3.0 doubles, there are three teams. The list includes the Kaga siblings, Elly Lee and Miae Yoo, and Riko Ojima and Maaya Sato and they will play in a round-robin format.