Lee, Heras make semis in Oceania tourney

Carol Lee, seen here going for a baseline return during an ITF Juniors event on Saipan last month, and Isabel Heras made it to the semis of both the team event and singles competition in the 2016 Punjas Oceania Tennis Championships in Suva, Fiji. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

CNMI junior players Carol Lee and Isabel Heras had a strong showing in the 2016 Punjas Oceania Tennis Championships in Suva, Fiji after advancing to the semifinals of both the team event and the doubles competition.

In the team event, the Commonwealth bets finished second in Group B to move into the Final Four. Lee and Heras earned a 2-1 mark in the pool play after winning over the Solomon Islands’ Georjemah Row and Vinda Teally last Thursday, 3-0, 6-0, 24-4, and against Vanuatu’s Lorraine Banimataku and Emma Maucotel last Friday, 2-1, 5-2, 25-16. The CNMI junior players also dueled Fiji Team 1’s Ruby Coffin and Mulan Kamoa last Thursday and lost, 0-6, 3-6, 7-24, to settle for the second spot in the group.

With their runner-up finish in Group B’s elimination, Heras and Lee were pitted against the No. 1 seed Australia in the semifinals with the Land Down Under players winning last Saturday’s playoff game, 3-0, 6-0, 24-5. The other Final Four pairing had the second-ranked Fiji Team 1 defeating the No. 3 pick New Caledonia, 3-0, 6-0, 24-8. Australia went on to beat Fiji in the finals, 2-0, 4-0, 16-6, while the CNMI fell short in its bid to take the bronze medal in the team event after losing to New Caledonia’s Lysiane Moto and Nikita Bouttier in the consolation match last Saturday, 2-1, 4-4, 22-18.

In the women’s doubles, Lee and Heras were seeded fourth in the nine-team field and won against Samoa’s Lyla Tapusoa and Eleanor Schuster, 6-0, 6-4, to gain a semis entry at the lower half of the draw. In the Final Four, the two CNMI players faced Fiji’s Tarani Kamoe and Annie Shannon, who notched a 6-2, 7-5 victory to eliminate their foes. The second-ranked Kamoe and Shannon are scheduled to battle the No. 1 seeded pair of Helen Parsons and Nicole Sewell of Australia today, while Lee and Heras will play Bouttier and Moto for the third place honors. The Aussie bets took the finals berth at the upper half of the draw after sweeping Moto and Bouttier, 6-2, 6-2.

Lee and Heras also competed in the singles event with the former making it to the quarterfinals and the latter faltering in her first round game. Lee downed Tapusoa, 6-2, 6-1, to march into the Round of 8, but missed on her semis bid after bowing to the third-ranked Sewell in three hard-fought sets, 2-6, 6-4, 6-10. Heras played an extended game, too, before losing to Coffin, 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-10.

Lee is set to challenge Schuster today with the winner meeting the victor of the Mulan Kamoe-Banimataku tiff for fifth place. Heras, on the other hand, fell to the loser’s bracket and will duel either Maucotel or Marie Liwuslili, also of Vanuatu, for the title game in the consolation draw.