Junior tennis championships gets going

 The first week of the 2012 CNMI Junior Tennis Championships is in the books after 28 singles and doubles matches went down at both the American Memorial Park and Pacific Islands Club tennis courts this past weekend.

In the boys 15-and-under, Carl Dela Cruz, Seiya Eda, Tommy Choi, and Chris Cajigan are into the Final Four.

After getting a bye in the first round, Dela Cruz advanced to the semis after beating Colin Ramsey, 6-1, 6-1. Ramsey defeated Troy Young, 6-0, 6-1, in the opening round.

Eda, for his part, also made quick work of Daniel Lim, 6-2, 6-0, to join Dela Cruz in the upper half of the semis.

Choi, meanwhile, was a 6-1, 6-1 victor against Dylan Ackerman to set up a lower bracket semis duel against Cajigan, who won his quarterfinals match against Michael Ren, 6-2, 7-6.

Over in the girls 15-and-under, defending champion Mikayla Lopez had an auspicious start after outplaying Adele Hudkins, 6-1, 6-0.

Pint-sized Negahr Rastguiy showed her big fighting heart after withstanding Emily Jones, 7-5, 6-2, in the only other match of the division.

Seven matches were played in the girls 12-and-under with the opening round duel between Tania Tan and Mimi Sakano hands down the most exciting.

Tan took the first set, 6-3, but her opponent refused to give in and took the second, 6-2. Sakano and Tan played neck-and-neck in the deciding third set before the latter pulled through with a 6-4 victory.

Tan took on top seed Carol Lee in the next round and lost, 6-0, 6-1. Lee will take on Liza Atalig next. Atalig advanced after beating Ami Tsukogoshi, 6-3, 6-1.

Tsukogoshi was a 6-0, 6-1 winner in her first round assignment against Angela Jun.

Hana Nelson and Grace Choi also made it to the quarters after wins over Anna Calvert (6-3, 6-0) and Gillian Villagomez (6-3, 6-3), respectively. Cho eventually lost to Isabel Heras though, 6-0, 6-0.

Results of the doubles division will be published in tomorrow’s edition of the Saipan Tribune.

The two-weekend tournament is the last local event that awards ranking points to junior players.

At the end of the season, the organizing Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association will compile all rankings to determine the CNMI’s representatives to the 2012 North Pacific Qualifying Tournament in Guam in June. The Top 5 players in the ranking list in the U15 and U12 age groups and Top 4 in the U18 will earn slots on the team.