Loken, Park rule mixed-up doubles

Peter Loken hits the ball during his and Eugene Park’s title match against Martin Jambor and Conatsu Kaga in the mixed-up doubles event of the 2016 White Coconut Tennis Classic last Monday at the Pacific Islands Club courts. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Saipan Tennis Academy coach Peter Loken and Eugene Park outlasted Martin Jambor and Conatsu Kaga in an extended finale to win the mixed-up doubles title in the 2016 White Coconut Tennis Classic last Monday at the Pacific Islands Club court.

Loken and Park dropped the opening set, 4-6, but kept their title hopes alive with a victory in the second in similar scores and then completed the come-from-behind win after eking out a 12-10 triumph in the super tiebreaker third set.

The prolonged title match was Loken and Park’s second last weekend as in the quarterfinal round last Saturday, they also needed an extra set to thwart Jeff Race and Allan Lee at the upper half of the draw, 7-5, 3-6, 10-5, to march into the semifinals. In the Final Four, they were pitted against Asia Raulerson and Moris Villanueva and the eventual champions had a hard earned 6-4, 7-5 win last Sunday to set up a title showdown against Conatsu and Jambor.

The pair of Jambor and Conatsu was the lone team left standing at the lower half of the draw, advancing into the finals following a 6-4, 2-6, 10-7 semis victory over Carol Lee and Ericka Tuttle. Earlier in the quarterfinals., Conatsu and Jambor also took three sets to eliminate Tony Kim and the former’s younger sister Coume, 6-7, 7-5, 10-3.

Lee and Ericka, posted the third supertie breaker win in the quarterfinal round last Saturday after they outclassed the latter’s mother Mihoko and Ji Min Woo, 5-7, 6-2, 10-8. Lee and Ericka went on to round out the Top 3 in the mixed-up doubles after beating Villanueva and Raulerson in the consolation game, 8-6.

Meanwhile, three more junior players joined the champions circle in the 2016 White Coconut Tennis Classic after Andy Jung, Anika Camacho, and Susan Sablan prevailed in their respective events, which had a round-robin format.

Andy claimed the boys U10 singles crown after beating Hyun Jin Joo, 8-1, and Min Gi Jung, 9-7.Min Gi finished second as he downed Joo, 8-1. In the girls division, Camacho topped her field following her victories over Yae Jin Son, 8-2, JC Ferrer, 8-2, and Thaileena Raulerson, 8-2. Raulerson settled for runner-up honors as she finished with a 2-1 record after winning over Ferrer and Son in similar scores, 8-2.

In the girls U12 singles, Sablan was the champion as she went 2-0 following her victories against Michelle Ryu, 6-1, 6-0, and Tae Hee Kim, 6-0, 6-0. Ryu placed second after defeating Kim, 6-2, 6-0.