Lee boosts title bid

Carol Lee, seen here getting ready near the net during a doubles match in an ITF Juniors even last year at the Pacific Islands Club, is still in contention for the singles and doubles titles in the Open BNP Paribas Junior de Nouvelle-Caledonie in New Caledonia. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

The CNMI’s Carol Lee is a win away from a finals appearance in the doubles event of the Open BNP Paribas Junior de Nouvelle-Caledonie following another straight sets victory yesterday at the Ligue Caledonienne De Tennis in New Caledonia.

Lee and her New Zealand teammate Holly Stewart defeated Australia’s Chloe Katerdjian and Milan Krish in the quarterfinal round, 6-0, 6-3, to book one of the two semis tickets at stake at the lower half of the draw. Sakura Kurokawa and Erika Matsuda got the other Final Four berth in the group and will challenge the No. 2 seeds Lee and Stewart for a finals slot after the Japanese pair eliminated Singapore’s Julia Daiya Barden and Ashley Kei Yim, 6-1, 6-0.

One more Japanese duo made it to the semifinals as Hitomi Toyama and Rima Yoshida won the battle of unranked teams after outlasting Australia’s Chiara Di Tommaso and Grace Schumacher, 6-4, 2-6, 12-10. The Japanese will be facing their compatriot Otoha Aoki and the U.S.’s Sara Tsukamoto in the Final Four duel at the top half of the draw. The No. 1-ranked Aoki and Tsukamoto eased their way to the semifinals after ousting New Caledonia’s Lea Bolo and Lysiane Moto-Nekiriai, 6-2, 6-0.

Meanwhile, in the singles event, Lee is also in the race as she leads the quarterfinalists in the 33-player field. The 15-year-old CNMI bet and No. 1 seed in the Grade 5 tournament marched into the Round of 8 after downing No. 16 Sakura Kurokawa of Japan, 6-0, 6-1. Next up for Lee is another seeded player in No. 5 and New Zealand’s Elys Saguil-Ventura, who booted out Australia’s Roopa Bains, 6-2, 6-1.

Lee’s fellow Commonwealth player Isabel Heras won’t be joining the former to the next round after bowing to Krish, 3-6, 1-6, at the lower half of the draw. Krish will be dueling last week’s finalist Helena Mohamed of France in the quarterfinals, while the other Round of 8 pairing at the bottom half of the draw will have Tsukamoto meeting Erika Matsuda. Tsukamoto and Matsuda moved to the quarterfinals after topping New Zealand’s Amelia Lawson, 6-4, 6-1, and Georgia Townsend, 7-6 (5), 6-2, respectively. Aoki and Di Tommaso completed the Round of 8 qualifiers as the former beat New Zealand’s Sarah Weekley, 6-4, 6-4, and the Aussie edged Moto-Nekiriai, 6-0, 4-6, 6-1.

In other results, the CNMI’s Robbie Schorr and India’s Aaryan Zaveri missed a semis stint after losing their quarterfinals game. New Zealand’s Isaac Becroft and Finley Hall denied Schorr and Zveri entry to the Final Four following a 6-2, 6-2 victory yesterday. The No. 4 see Kiwis will go for the finals berth at the top half of the draw when they take on No. 1 Denton Ho and Stephen Wong of Hong Kong today. The other semis pairing will have the unranked Kuan Yu Chen of Chinese-Taipei and Yamato Sueoka of Japan challenging No. 3 Kani Williams of New Zealand and Japan’s Ryo Minakata.