Perfect opener for Woo, 2 others

The CNMI’s boys U16 players were unscathed in the opening of the 2019 Pacific Oceania Junior Championships in Lautoka, Fiji yesterday.

Ji Min Woo led the group’s perfect performance on Day 1 of the pool play at the International Tennis Federation’s Regional Training Centre after sweeping Fiji’s Daniel Kumar, 6-0, 6-0, in their Group D match. In Group A, Sam Ryu also needed only two sets to top the Federated States of Micronesia’s Deavyn Etscheit, 6-4, 6-2, while Sean Lee defeated Samoa’s Philip Warren in similar scores in the Group B pairing.

Woo will go for win No. 2 when he takes on the Norfolk Islands’ Sam Cribb today, while Ryu will have a tough Day 2 assignment in Pacific Games participant and U16 singles favorite Clement Mainguy of Vanuatu. Lee will also face a formidable opponent in Tahiti’s Manovai Elie. The three CNMI bets need to win at least two matches to have a chance at advancing to the playoff round. Only the Top 2 finishers in each of the four groups after the pool play will march to the playoffs.

In other results, Serin Chung won her debut in the POJC after slipping past Fiji’s Charlotte Nicolaus, 6-1, 1-6, 10-8. Next up for Chung in the girls U14 singles’ Group D game is FSM’s Leilah Etscheit, who was defeated by the Cook Islands’ Moana Une, 6-4, 6-3.

Hyejin Elliot also prevailed in her opening match in the girls U14’s Group A and she did it in a dominating fashion after whipping Fiji’s Fasneen Fareen, 6-0, 6-0. Elliot will close out her pool play assignment today when she takes on Tahiti’s Vaiani Dusserre-Valleaux.

The CNMI’s girls U14 crew missed a sweep in the opening day of the POCJ after Helen Kim was beaten by Samoa’s Roselyn Tupuola, 6-1, 6-0. Kim will try to recover today when she duels the Cook Islands’ Te Akaiti Toa.

Four other Commonwealth players dropped their openers. Anthony Gregoire fell to Tahiti’s Noah Chin in the boys U14 singles, 2-6, 4-6, while the former’s sister, Maria, lost to the Solomon Islands’ Prudence Bird in the girls U16, 2-6, 0-6. In the boys U14 singles, Vanuatu’s Noah Molbaleh crushed Daniel Kang, 6-0, 6-0, while FSM’s Jones George topped David Kwon, 6-2, 6-1.

Kwon will attempt to make it to the win column in Group C when he meets the Cook Islands’ Arikitoa Allsworth today, while Daniel Kang will also challenge the latter’s compatriot—Maka Maui—in the second day of the competition. Anthony will not play in the singles event today, but will team up with Kwon in battling Maui and Allsworth in the opening of the doubles event. Maria is also taking a break in the singles and instead will partner with the Norfolk Islands’ Hannah Wright in squaring off against Bird and Vanuatu’s Joanita Takatavety.