Rastguiy takes first U15 crown

  Pint-sized Negahr Rastguiy earned her first girls U15 crown after going undefeated in the 2012 Micronesian Junior Tennis Championship played over at the weekend at the Pacific Islands Club hard court in San Antonio.

Thirteen-year-old Rastguiy, who moved up from the U12 age group to the U15 division last year, topped the round-robin tournament last weekend, securing the championship after a 6-3, 6-1 win over Carol Lee last Monday afternoon. Rastguiy’s two other victories were recorded against Isabel Heras last Saturday, 6-2, 6-1, and over Emily Jones last Sunday, 6-0, 6-2.

Lee settled for the runner-up honors with her 2-1 record. She won over Jones, 6-1, 6-2, last Saturday, and survived Heras last Sunday, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.

In other results, Clayton Izuka and Julia Ishikawa gained the U12 championships, while Catherine Atalig and Kevin Kim took the U10 titles.

Izuka reigned supreme in the eight-player boys U12 draw, capping his domination of the three-day tournament with a finals sweep against Steven Goodwin. Izuka only lost one game in the tournament, as he drew a bye in the first round of the upper half draw, eliminated Joshua Abragan in the second, 6-1, 6-1, and survived Vincent Tudela in a three-set semis tiff, 3-6, 6-1, 7-6.

In the lower half draw, Goodwin also gained a bye in the opening round, downed Ken Song in the second, 6-4, 6-3, before pulling off an upset over second seed Michael Jones in the semis, 6-1, 6-1.

In the girls U12, Ishikawa was undefeated, winning over Tania Tan in the second round, 6-3, 6-2, against Hana Nelson in the semis, 6-1, 6-2, and versus Liza Atalig in the finals, 6-1, 6-0.

In the boys U12, the unseeded Kim stunned his favored foes to win the championship. He clinched the title last Monday morning after an 8-4 victory over Aditya Rai, who surprised top seed Mondo Taniguchi in the semis, 8-3. Kim, on the other hand, won over Tony Atalig in the other semis duel, 8-4, one day after he shut out Jeffrey Seo, 8-0.

Completing the list of Micronesian tournament winners was the top-seeded Catherine Atalig, who beat Asia Raulerson in the finals last Monday, 8-2. Atalig advanced to the finals after an 8-4 triumph over Conatsu Kaga in the semis, while Raulerson topped Ruth Ojima in the other Final Four game, 8-2.