Lee stays in contention in ITF Juniors tourney

Carol Lee returns to Chinese-Taipei’s Ling Hsuan Wei during their second round match in the 2016 Chuck E. Cheese’s ITF Junior Championships yesterday at the Rick Ninete Tennis Centre in Hagatna, Guam.
(Contributed Photo)

The CNMI’s Carol Lee is still in the hunt for the singles crown in the 2016 Chuck E. Cheese’s ITF Junior Championships after dispatching her Chinese-Taipei opponent yesterday at the Rick Ninete Tennis Centre in Hagatna, Guam.

Lee, who won her opening match in the ranking tournament against Japanese Karen Kondo last Monday, 6-1, 6-1, got her second straight game victory after downing Ling Hsuan Wei, 6-3, 6-3. With the pair of wins at the upper half of the main draw, the Commonwealth junior player earned a quarterfinals slot in the 32-player field.

In the Round of 8, the No.6 seed Lee will have her acid test as she takes on the top-ranked Sara Tsukamoto of the U.S. today at 9:45am. Tsukamoto advanced to the quarterfinals following a 6-2, 6-3 win against Hong Kong’s Alicia Yue.

“She is a very good player. I have to play the same game I showed today and stay focus,” the Saipan Community School student said.

Joining Lee and Tsukamoto in the quarterfinals at the top half of the draw were Chinese-Taipei’s Ting-Chieh Wei and Japan’s Himeo Sakatsume. The Japanese bet, who is ranked No. 8 in the tournament, moved on after a 6-0, 6-1 triumph over compatriot Nanami Okamoto. The Chinese-Taipei player, on the other hand took the long route to the quarterfinals after surviving Japan’s Mahiro Koga in three sets, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

At the bottom half of the draw, the quarterfinalists were the second-ranked and Chinese-Taipei’s Yuelin Chen and Japan’s Mana Kawamura, Shiho Tsukuda, and Saki Oyama. Oyama eliminated the U.S.’ Casey Cummings, 6-0, 6-4, to set a Round of 8 duel against fellow Japanese Tsukuda, who pulled off a 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 victory against compatriot Sakura Hosogi.

Chen gave Chinese-Taipei its second quarterfinals ticket in the girls draw after ousting Hong Kong’s Avril Look, 6-1, 6-1. Chen will be up against Kawamura, who booted out No. 7 seed and Palau’s Ayana Rengiil 6-1, 6-1.

The 16-year-old Rengiil is also out of contention in the doubles as she and Lee lost to their Japanese foes in the afternoon quarterfinal match. Tomoka Yoshida and Sakatsume stunned the second-seeded Lee and Rengiil, 6-1, 6-1, to make it to the all-Japan semifinals where they will face Hosogi and Tsukuda, a 7-5, 6-4 winner over Kawamura and Koga.

The other Final Four pairing in the doubles event will have Hitomi and Tanaka challenging Ling Hsuan and Ting-Chien Wei. The Japanese pair pulled off an upset over the top-seeded Charmaine Seah of Singapore and Tsukamoto, 0-6, 6-0, 14-12, while the Chinese-Taipei duo prevailed against Homada and Koyama, 6-1, 6-1.