Lee wins opener in another Junior ranking tournament

The CNMI’s Carol Lee is back in Fiji, hoping to gain more ranking points in the 2016 South Pacific Open Junior Championships. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

The CNMI’s Carol Lee is back in Fiji and quickly buckled down to work, winning her opening match in the singles event in the 2016 South Pacific Open Junior Championships.

Lee, who returned to Lautoka after her finals appearance in both the singles and doubles competitions in the Open Junior BNP PARIBAS de Nouvelle-Caledonie in Noumea, New Caledonia, last week, defeated Japanese qualifier Hiroka Furuya in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, to make it to the third round of the event.

The CNMI player is seeded fifth in the singles and got a bye in the first round before meeting Furuya in the second. She is at the bottom half of the main draw and will be facing New Zealand and No. 9 seed Stella Cliffe for a spot in the quarterfinals. Cliffe set up a third round match against Lee after eliminating Australia’s Luciana Kunkel, 6-0, 6-3.

Regardless of the results of Lee’s match versus Cliffe, the former had already surpassed her performance in the same ITF Juniors competition last year. The 14-year-old player dropped her singles debut in the South Pacific Open, losing to Hong Kong’s Claudia Ng, 0-6 3-6. In the doubles, she partnered with Palau’s Ayana Rengiil and they prevailed over Japan’s Sophie Hamada and Hong Kong’s Venia Yeung, 6-0, 4-6, 10-3, to move into the quarterfinals. Rengiil and Lee then bowed to Australia’s Michaela Haet and the U.S.’ Mimi Levine, 2-6, 0-6, in the Round of 8.

Lee is teaming up anew with Rengiil this year and the Pacific Oceania bets are seeded fourth in the group. They will play their first game in the division this afternoon against the winner in today’s morning match between CNMI’s Tania Tan and the Solomon Islands Vinda Teally and the Japanese pair of Kaeda Senpuku and Shiho Shibata.

Isabel Heras, the third Commonwealth player entered in the ITF Juniors ranking tournament, is joining forces with the U.S.’ Bryn Johnson and they will challenge New Zealand’s Ivy Mclean and Holly Stewart with the winners meeting Singapore’s Maxine Ng and Hong Kong’s Wing Sze Yu in the second round.

Heras also played in the singles event, but fell to Japan’s Sachicho Sho, 2-6, 3-6, in the first round. Tan faltered, too, but not without a fight, as she forced Singapore’s Julia Barden to an extended game. Tan drew first blood, 6-4, before Barden swept the last two sets, 6-4, 6-1, to steal the win.

The 2016 South Pacific Open Junior Championships is a Grade 4 tournament, awarding 40 ranking points to the singles champion and 30, 20, 15, and 10 to the runner-up, semifinalists, quarterfinalists, and losers in the Round of 16, respectively. The doubles champions will get 30 ranking points apiece, while 20 will be awarded to each runner-up and 15 and 10 will go to the semifinalists and quarterfinalists.