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Lee upset by unseeded player
Carol Lee settled for runner-up honors in the singles and doubles events of the Oceania Open Junior Championships 2017 held in Lautoka, Fiji last week. (Contributed Photo)
An unseeded player foiled Carol Lee’s bid for a fifth ITF Juniors title in the Oceania Open Junior Championships 2017.
American Elle Christensen completed her stunning showing in the Grade 5 tournament by sweeping No. 1 seed Lee in their singles finals match, 6-2, 6-3, last Saturday at the Regional Tennis Centre Nadovu Park in Lautoka, Fiji. Lee was the fourth player hit by Christensen’s upset axe, as the U.S. player eliminated the No. 5, 9, and 2 seeded entries in the singles competition.
The U.S. player first downed No. 5 and Japan’s Shiho Shibata, 6-2, 6-2, and then beat No. 9 Chiara Di Tommaso of Australia, 6-3, 6-3, to advance to the quarterfinals where she was paired against the favored and No. 2 seed Patricia Apisah of Papua New Guinea. Christensen went on to oust Apisah, 6-3, 6-1, to move into the semifinals opposite Japan’s Hikaru Yoshikawa, a 6-3, 6-3 winner against compatriot Kanami Hayashige. Christensen then won the battle of unseeded players, as she eased past Yoshikawa in the semis match at the lower half of the draw, 6-2, 6-0, to set up a finals showdown against Lee.
Lee also faced a Japanese foe in the Final Four and took two sets to boot out No. 14 Saki Imamura, 6-2, 7-5, and move a win away from clinching her fifth championships in the ITF Juniors Circuit. However, Christensen spoiled Lee’s party, as the former kept her momentum en route to beating the No. 1 seed in the tournament.
The singles loss was second in a row in the finals for Lee last weekend, as she and teammate Maxine Ng also fell short in their bid for the doubles crown last Friday. The No. 1 seed Lee and Ng bowed to the unranked pair of Yoshikawa and Ikumi Yamazaki as the Japanese duo posted a 6-3, 6-3 victory in the doubles title match.
With her runner-up finishes in the Oceania Open Junior Championships 2017, Lee had to settle for 20 rankings points (singles) and 15 (doubles).
