Lee romps past first round foe

Carol Lee is playing in the Calvo’s Select Care ITF Junior Championships at the Rick Ninete Tennis Centre in Hagatna, Guam. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

The CNMI’s Carol Lee eased her way to the second round of the girls U18 singles event of the Calvo’s Select Care ITF Junior Championships after sweeping her Japanese foe yesterday at the Rick Ninete Tennis Centre in Hagatna, Guam.

Lee was pitted against wild card entry Karen Kondo and posted a 6-1, 6-1 victory in their first round match at the upper half of the bracket.

“I faced a beginner so it was kind of an easy game. However, in the first part of the match, I had difficulties with my shots because the weather was windy. Later on, I managed to get my game going,” said Lee, who is seeded sixth in the 32-player field.

“In the second round, it’s going to be tougher because I will meet a good player from Chinese-Taipei,” the 14-year-old Lee added.

The CNMI netter is talking of Ling Hsuan Wei, who pulled off a 7-5, 7-5 victory against Japan’s Nagomi Tanaka to set up a second-round duel against Lee on Wednesday. If Lee survives Wei, she may collide against the top-ranked Sara Tsukamoto of the U.S. in the quarterfinals. Tsukamoto also needed only two sets to beat Japan’s Tomoka Yoshida in yesterday’s opening round, 6-2, 6-1. The draw’s No. 1 seed will next challenge Hong Kong’s Alicia Yue, a 6-0, 6-2 winner versus Japanese qualifier Nanari Katsumi.

Meanwhile, Lee will start her doubles bid today as she teams up with Palau’s Ayana Rengiil. The two Pacific Oceania players are seeded second in the draw behind the top-ranked pair of Tsukamoto and Singapore’s Charmaine Seah. The two other seeded teams are Japan’s Sakura Hosogi and Shiho Tsukuda and Chinese-Taipei’s Wei and Ting-Chieh Wei.

Lee and Rengiil are at the bottom half of the draw and will square off against Japan’s Nanami Okamoto and Saki Oyama today with the winners advancing into the quarterfinals.

“I have Ayana as teammate so I am not that worried and I think we have a pretty good chance in the tournament,” the world No. 704 said.

Lee’s fellow CNMI player Tania Tan is also competing in the doubles and will be joining forces with Japan’s Suka Sano. Tan and Sano are wild card entries and will battle Japan’s Mana Kawamura and Mahiro Koga.

Tan joined the singles play, too, and bowed to Kawamura in yesterday’s opening round, 2-6, 1-6.

The ITF Junior tournament in Guam is a Grade 5 event and awards 30 points to the singles champions and 20 (each) to the doubles winners. The Calvo’s Select Care ITF Junior Championships will run until this Saturday and several players from this competition will then head to Saipan next week for another ITF Junior-ranking event—the 2016 IT&E Northern Marianas Juniors Championships.