Lee stays in contention in NZ

Carol Lee made it to the quarterfinals of both the singles and doubles competitions in the Auckland ITF Indoor Championships 2016 after sweeping her foes yesterday at the Scarbro Tennis Centre in Auckland, New Zealand. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

The CNMI’s Carol Lee is still in the title hunt in the singles and doubles events of the Auckland ITF Indoor Championships 2016.

In the singles competition, Lee defeated New Zealand’s Amelia Lawson, 6-3, 6-1, yesterday at the Scarbro Tennis Centre in Auckland, New Zealand, to advance to the quarterfinal round of the ITF Juniors ranking tournament. The victory was the second straight set triumph for the No. 3 seed Lee, as she also swept Australia’s Kirijana Petreski in their second round match last Wednesday, 6-0, 6-1.

The Commonwealth bet managed to dispatch her foes early despite competing in an indoor contest for the first time.

“Playing in indoor courts is pretty different. The ball goes quick and fast when you hit a flat serve. There are noises from other courts and I need to recover faster and anticipate more,” said Lee.

“In the first game, my opponent’s serve was pretty difficult to hit but I managed to return it. I also felt confident because my slice serve was good. I won most of the games because of my serve,” the world No. 443 added.

With her back-to-back wins, Lee has a chance to move into the Final Four as she faces fellow ranked player Oleksandra Kalachova of New Zealand in the quarterfinals. The fifth-seeded Kiwi marched into the Round of 8 following a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australia’s Helena Spiridis.

“Tomorrow (today) I will be playing against a New Zealand player and I will do my usual plan—be consistent, attack first, and win my serve game,” Lee said.

If the CNMI bet prevails anew today, she will duel the victor in the quarterfinal pairing between New Zealand’s Brooke Kenny and No. 2 seed Ashleigh Harvey for the semis ticket at the lower half of the draw. At the upper half of the bracket, the four players left are No. 1 seed Lisa Mays and unranked Danielle Moris of Australia and New Zealand’s Lauren Alter and Janvhi Clark.

In the doubles category, Lee and Palau’s Ayana Rengiil dominated New Zealand’s Amily Suga and Australia’s Angelina Esabella Teakaraanga in the first set, 6-0, and completed the sweep after pulling off a 7-5 triumph in the second.

The third-ranked Lee and Rengiil are at the bottom half of the draw and will be paired against siblings Lauren and Paige Alter of New Zealand in the quarterfinals. The Alter sisters had a free pass to the Round of 8 after getting a win via walkover against the fifth-ranked pair of Ivy McLean and Holly Stewart, also of New Zealand.

The Alter siblings are the only unseeded duos left in the doubles competition, as Lee and Rengiil were joined in the quarterfinals by No. 1 Kalachova and Mays; No. 7 Morris and Elys Saguil-Ventura; No. 4 Shaylee Syme and Caitlin Ward; No. 6 Tallulah Farrow and Petreski; No. 8 Ilic and Spiridis; and No. 2 Clark and Harvey.