Lee wins in Junior Fed Cup

Carol Lee, seen here returning a shot during this year’s Coconut Tennis Classic, won her singles match against Thailand’s Watsachol Sawatdee, 6-4, 6-4, last Tuesday in the 2016 Junior Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Asia/Oceania Final Qualifying in India.
(Roselyn B. Monroyo)

The CNMI’s Carol Lee stood out for Pacific Oceania, prevailing in the team’s second singles game against Southeast Asia powerhouse Thailand in the 2016 Junior Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Asia/Oceania Final Qualifying last Tuesday in India.

Lee swept Watsachol Sawatdee, 6-4, 6-4, for Pacific Oceania’s lone victory for the day. Thailand won the first singles match and the doubles for a 2-1 triumph. Lee played in the doubles, partnering with Tahiti’s Naia Guitton and they lost to Sawatdee and Thasaporn Naklo, 1-6, 1-6. In the first singles match, Naklo dominated Fiji’s Vienna Kumar, 6-1, 6-0.

Lee’s victory in Day 2 of the tournament came after she nearly pulled off an upset against world No. 46 Baijing Lin of Australia last Monday. The 14-year-old Lee topped Lin in the first set, 6-2, before the Australian swept the last two, 7-5, 6-1, to foil the CNMI bet’s bid.

Australia went on to sweep Lee and company, 3-0, and is leading Group B with its 2-0 mark. Australia edged Hong Kong, 2-1, in last Tuesday’s other pairing. Pacific Oceania (0-2) was scheduled to challenge the winless Hong Kong yesterday for its last game in the pool.

Lee was slated to duel Hong Kong’s Venia Yeung in the second singles game, while Kumar was paired against Claudia Ng in the first singles tiff. Lee was also set to team up with Guitton in the doubles against the tandem of Ng and Hong Yi Wong.

The other pairing in Day 3 had Australia squaring off against Thailand. Both teams are already assured of slots to the knockout phase regardless of the results of their game yesterday. Thailand and Australia will be joined to the next round by the Top 2 finishers of the three other pools. Japan and New Zealand are ahead in Pool A with their similar 2-0 records, while Chinese-Taipei and China hold the same marks in Group C. In Group D, South Korea and host India are in the Top 2 and are likely to advance to the playoffs where only the Top 4 teams will gain tickets to the finale that will be held in Budapest, Hungary from Sept. 27 to Oct. 2.

Meanwhile, Lee moved up in the ITF Juniors ranking list. As of April 11, she is ranked at No. 707. She ended 2015 ranked at No. 748 and she can get more points from a couple of ITF Juniors Circuit tournaments this year.