Schorr, Woo perfect in POJC opener

The CNMI’s Robbie Schorr, seen here competing in a local tournament early this year, went 2-0 on Day 1 of the 2016 Pacific Oceania Junior Championships in Fiji. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

The CNMI’s Robbie Schorr and Ji Min Woo swept their first two matches in the opening day of the 2016 Pacific Oceania Junior Championships.

The top-ranked Schorr took less than an hour in defeating No. 4 seed Samuel Strid of Vanuatu, 6-0, 6-2, for his first victory in Group 1 of the boys U14 singles division yesterday in Lautoka, Fiji. Schorr returned to the court in the afternoon and dominated the unranked Brendon Fong of Tahiti, 6-0, 6-0, to get the early lead in his pool.

Woo duplicated Schorr’s 2-0 record on Day 1 of the POJC after beating Samoa’s Rafael Tapusoa, 6-1, 6-1, and Fiji’s Storm Cornish, 6-2, 7-5, in Group 4 matches in the boys U14 singles. With the pair of wins, the third-ranked Woo is already assured of a slot to the quarterfinals and will go for a pool play sweep today when he meets New Caledonia’s Robin Seelan.

In other U14 singles results, the CNMI’s Asia Raulerson pulled off an upset against No. 3 and fellow Commonwealth bet Malika Miyawaki in their Group 2 opening match. Miyawaki eased past Raulerson in the first set, 6-1, but the latter stole the win after eking out a 7-6 (1) victory in the second and 10-7 triumph in the super-tiebreaker third. In Group 1, Conatsu Kaga swept American Samoa’s Chrystal Christman, 6-2, 7-6 (2), while Maria Gregoire bowed to the top-ranked Eleanor Schuster of Samoa, 1-6, 3-6.

In the boys U14 singles Group 3, the fourth-ranked Seung Jin Paik split his first two assignments in the opening day. Paik dropped his first match to Tahiti’s Haunui Montas, 3-6, 4-6, before bouncing back in the afternoon game against Samoa’s Corey Duseigneur, 6-0, 6-2. With his 1-1 record, Paik must win against Vanuatu’s Zachary Sands (2-0) to have a chance for one of the two playoff berths at stake in their pool.

In the girls U16 singles, No. 1 seed Carol Lee won the battle of ranked players in Group 1 after outclassing No. 4 pick Rubby Coffin of Fiji, 6-2, 6-0. With the win, Lee shares the top spot in their pool with Vanuatu’s Daisy Spiti, who beat the Federated State of Micronesia’s Sunshine Palik, 7-6, (5), 6-0. Lee has three games left in the round-robin elimination, including her duel against Palik today.

In Group 2, Isabel Heras also won her opening match after downing Tonga’s Skylawn Palelei, 6-2, 6-0, while Tania Tan went 1-for-2 on Day 1. Tan defeated Palelei, too, 6-1, 6-0, to bounce back from her loss to Tahiti’s Naia Guitton, 2-6, 1-6. Tan and Heras will square today.

In the boys U16 singles, both Vincent Tudela and Michael Ren faltered in their opening round matches. Ren was pitted against No. 3 Heimanarii Laisan of Tahiti and the latter swept the CNMI bet, 6-2, 6-0, in their Group 3 match. Vanuatu’s Clement Mainguy also needed only two sets to prevail against Tudela, 6-1, 6-1, in the Group 2 game.