Semis rush for jr. tennis players

Robbie Schorr checks on his opponent’s move during a tournament Fiji last month. He is still in Fiji playing in the 2018 Pacific Oceania Junior Championships. (Oceania Tennis Photo)

The CNMI Junior Tennis Team has semis entries in all four doubles events in the 2018 Pacific Oceania Junior Championships.

In the boys U16 age group, the tried and tested pair Robbie Schorr and Ken Song took the second semis seat after dominating Tahiti’s Phillip Warren and Guam’s Marshall Zhang, 6-0, 6-0, yesterday in Fiji.

Schorr and Song will meet in the semis the No. 1 seed Jeremy Guinnes and Mohearii Polin of Tahiti, who got the first Final Four ticket after drawing a bye in the first round, while the CNMI’s Sean Lee and Sam Ryu will vie for one of the two remaining semis berths. Ryu and Lee will face Norfolk Island’s Sam Cribb and Tuvalu’s Maka Ofati today, while the battle for the other semis ticket will feature the Solomon Islands pair of Junior Micky and Joel Riju against the Vanuatu duo of Clement Mainguy and Warea Tigona.

In the girls U16 division, Conatsu Kaga and Malika Miyawaki swept Samoa’s Chrystal Christman and Luisa Tuasi’l, 6-4, 6-1, to advance to the semis against No. 1 Lea Lamorelle of Tahiti and Samoa’s Eleanor Schuster.

The CNMI’s other bet in the division—Maria Gregoire—teamed up with the Federated State of Micronesia’s Anne Skilling and they will challenge Fiji’s Kajol Chand and Vanuatu’s Desiree Signo today for the third semis slot. The winner of today’s match will march against No. 2 seed Saoirse Breen of Fiji and Vanuatu’s Rosalie Molbaleh.

In the girls U14 doubles, the Commonwealth’s Conatsu Kaga partnered with FSM’s Ridianne Wolphagen in beating Guam’s Kaia Malakooti and Palau’s Ngelittle Silmai, 6-2, 6-2, to make it to the semifinals against the Tahiti pair of Vaiani Dusserre-Valleaux and Chrissy Vonge. The Tahiti duo won over Vanuatu’s Naomi Sipiti and Norfolk Island’s Hannah Wright, 6-2, 7-5.

In the boys U14, Seung Jin Paik and Jimin Wook took only two sets to down FSM’s Deavyn Etscheit and Jones George, 6-0, 6-3, and move into the semifinals against New Caledonia’s Tiago Lopes and Terence Winter. The New Caledonia players notched the second semis ticket at the lower half of the draw after eliminating Tahiti’s Ariitea Cotti-Helme and Meheannnu Larson, 6-2, 6-1.

At the upper half of the draw, it will be Storm Cornish of Fiji and the Solomon Islands’ Lachlan Guba against Vanuatu’s Noah Molbaleh and Zachary Sands. Cornish and Guba stunned No. 1 seed Manovai Elie and Haunui Montas of Tahiti, 6-1, 0-6, 10-8, while the Vanuatu duo ousted Guam’s Dakota Gibson and FSM’s Nolen Narruhn, 6-2, 6-3.

More wins in singles
Meanwhile, the CNMI Junior National Team bounced back from a slow start in the singles, as more players bagged victories on Day 2 of the competition.

Woo won his first game in the boys U14 singles after defeating Etscheit, 6-0, 6-1, while Coume went 2-0 in the girls play and may likely advance to the playoffs following a 6-3, 6-4 triumph over Malakooti. The Top 2 players from the four pools in both the girls and boys U14 singles will move into the playoff round.

In the U16 singles, Schorr eased past Warren, 6-0, 6-0, and will go for a sweep in Group C when he takes on Micky today. In Group D, Song recovered from his opening day loss after topping Cribb, 6-1, 6-0. Song must win over the Solomon Islands’ Joel Riju to move into the quarterfinals.

In the girls U16 singles, Miyawaki clobbered Tuasi’l last Monday, 6-0, 6-0, and will play her second and last game in Group B today against Breen. With Tuasil’ also bowing to Breen yesterday, Miyawaki is already assured of a playoff spot regardless of the results of her game against the former.

Conatsu also has a good chance of moving forward in the girls U16 singles after bouncing back from her opening day loss with a 6-0, 6-0 triumph over Chand yesterday. Conatsu’s entry to the quarterfinals will be formalized with Lamorelle’s win over Chand today.