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Lee settles for 15 ITF Juniors ranking points
The CNMI’s Carol Lee goes for a backhand return to Chinese-Taipei’s Ling Hsuan-Wei during their second round match in the 2016 Chuck E. Cheese’s ITF Junior Championships last Wednesday at the Rick Ninete Tennis Centre in Hagatna, Guam. (Contributed Photo)
The CNMI’s Carol Lee missed a semifinals appearance in the 2016 Chuck E. Cheese’s ITF Junior Championships after bowing to the tournament’s top-ranked player yesterday at the Rick Ninete Tennis Centre in Hagatna, Guam.
No. 1 seed Sara Tsukamoto of the U.S. blanked Lee in the opening set, 6-0, and then completed the sweep with a 6-3 victory in the second to deny the CNMI bet’s bid for a semis slot at the upper half of the draw.
With the defeat, Lee will have to settle for the 10 ranking points given to the loser in the quarterfinal round of the singles event. The Commonwealth’s junior player earned singles ranking points in the Grade 5 tournament after beating Japan’s Karen Kondo, 6-1, 6-1, and Chinese-Taipei’s Ling Hsuan-Wei, 6-2, 6-3, early this week. Lee will also get 5 ranking points in the doubles, as she and teammate Ayana Rengiil of Palau won their opening match.
Pending the awarding of her 15 ranking points from the Guam tournament, Lee, according to the ITF Juniors website, has collected 60 points in the singles and 25 in the doubles
Meanwhile, with her win over Lee, Tsukamoto set a Final Four showdown against No.8-ranked and Japan’s Himeno Sakatsume, who pulled off an upset over the third-seeded Ting-Chieh Wei of Chinese- Taipei, 7-6, (6), 4-6, 6-4, in the other quarterfinal game at the top half of the bracket.
At the lower half, the second-ranked Yuelin Chen of Chinese-Taipei advanced to the semifinals after eliminating Mana Kawamura, 6-3, 6-3. Chen will be facing in the Final Four another Japanese in Shuho Tsukuda, who ousted compatriot Kokomi Oyama, 7-5, 6-2.
In the boys division, Japan’s Seita Watanabe and Kai Kawano were joined in the semifinals by Hong Kong’s Jonathan Zhang and South Korea’s Yohan Sung.
