Ren, Tudela inch closer to doubles finale

Vincent Tudela gets ready to serve during a local tournament last year. He and Michael Ren are in the semifinals of the boys U16 doubles event of the 2017 Pacific Oceania Junior Championships. (Contributed Photo)

After getting the boot in singles play, the CNMI’s Michael Ren and Vincent Tudela are hoping to make up for lost ground in the doubles competition of the 2017 Pacific Oceania Junior Championships.

The No. 1 seeded pair had a statement game in the boys U16 doubles after sweeping Fiji’s Gavin Molotii and Vanuatu’s Samuel Strid. Rena and Tudela hammered Strid and Molotii in the first set, 4-0, and then recorded a 4-2 victory in the second to move into the semifinals where they will be up against the Tahiti duo of Jeremy Guines and Hirinaki Lo. The Tahiti players won the second Final Four berth at the lower half of the draw after outclassing Guam’s Camden Camacho and the Federated States of Micronesia’s Joab Williams, 5-3, 4-2.

At the top half of the draw, the CNMI also has an entry in the semifinals in the tested tandem of Ken Song and Robbie Schorr, the champions in last year’s boys U14 doubles division. Song and Schorr boosted their chances for a second doubles crown in the POJC after eliminating the Cook Islands’ Elijah Amataiti and Samoa’s Kristen Pavitt, 4-0, 4-2. The CNMI duo will face No. 1 Marlin Hannam and Clement Mainguy of Vanuatu today for a finals slot in the division.

In the girls U16 doubles, Carol Lee, who is with Malika Miyawaki, is on course for a return trip to the finals after they beat Samoa’s Penina Kamu and Kava Taufa of Tonga in the quarterfinals, 4-1, 4-0. Miyawaki and Lee will aim for a finals ticket today when they duel the Tongan pair of Peata Fatai and Brookie Maasi, who pulled off a 4-2, 1-4, 11-9 victory against the CNMI’s Grace Choi and Fiji’s Saoirse Breen to make it to the semifinals. The other Final Four pairing will have No. 1 Naia Guitton of Tahiti and Eleanor Schuster of Samoa battling Vanuatu’s Rosalie Molballeh and Daisy Sipiti. Guitton and Schuster drew a bye in the quarterfinals for an outright semis entry, while the Vanuatu players advanced following a 4-1, 4-1 win over Guam’s Anika Sachdev and Joycelyn Tenai.

In the boys U14 doubles, Ji Min Woo and Seung Jin Paik are in the semis after defeating Fiji’s Avikash Kumar and Vanuatu’s Warea Tigona, 4-0, 4-2. The CNMI players’ foe in the Final Four are Tahiti’s Manovai Elie and Mohearii Polin, who ousted the Commonwealth’s Richard Steele and Tonga’s Christopher Maasi, 4-5 (4), 4-1, 10-7. The CNMI’s fourth player in the division, Sean Lee, is with the FSM’s Jerson Freddy and they gained a semis berth after eliminating Tahiti’s Meheannu Larson and Vanuatu’s Terence Winter, 4-2, 4-1. Lee and Freddy will challenge No. 1 Kelese Kofe of Tuvali and Vanuatu’s Maui Leflon for the finals berth at the upper half of the draw. Kofe and Leflon moved one win away from the finals after dominating Guam’s Andrew Leng and Thomas Ysrael, 4-1, 4-1.