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Song, Ren give CNMI Top 2 finish in elims
Ken Song makes a baseline return to Vincent Tudela during their game in the 2017 White Coconut Tennis Classic at the Pacific Islands Club hard courts. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)
Ken Song and Michael Ren kept their undefeated record in the 16-and-under singles event of the 2017 North Pacific Regional Championships after Day 3 of the competition in Guam.Song and Ren finished with similar 4-0 records after last Tuesday’s pool play matches and assured the CNMI a 1-2 ranking in Group B going into the quarterfinal round. Ren completed his Day 3 sweep after beating Guam’s Marshall Zhang, 7-5, 6-3, at the Tamuning court, while in an earlier duel against Guam’s James Hourican, the Commonwealth labored a 7-6 (3) win in the first set before taking an easier 6-2 triumph in the second. Song, who also downed Hourican in the morning match at the Rick Ninete Tennis Center in Hagatna, matched Ren’s perfect mark following a 6-0, 6-0 demolition of the Federated State of Micronesia’s Andy Sipps.
In other results, Maria Gregoire is still on top of the standings in girls 14-and-under singles after improving her record to 3-0. She got her third win in as many games last Tuesday against FSM’s Paris Panuelo, 6-2, 6-1, to share the top spot with the latter’s compatriot Anne Skilling.
The girls 14-and-under singles has a round-robin format and the first finisher in the six-player field will be awarded the title. Gregoire will try to boost her championship bid in the division when she duels Guam’s Kaia Malakooti today, while the latter’s final game will be this Friday against Skilling.
The girls 16-and-under singles also has a round-robin format with the CNMI’s Malika Miyawaki and Grace Choi in a three-way deadlock for the top spot with Guam’s Anika Sachdev after Day 3. The three players are 2-0, pending results of yesterday’s matches, which include the battle between Miyawaki and Choi.
In the boys 14-and-under singles, the CNMI’s Sean Lee is one win away from sweeping pool play after dominating FSM’s Nolan Namuhn, 6-1, 6-0. The No. 1 seed in the division bagged his third victory in as many games and was scheduled to meet fellow Commonwealth player Richard Steele (2-1) in his final preliminary match in Group A. Both Lee and Steele are assured of the quarterfinals slots in the event regardless of the results of their game yesterday.
Meanwhile, in the U12 team event, the CNMI Boys 1 improved to a 2-0 record after sweeping the CNMI Boys 2, 3-0. Daniel Kang and Anthony Gregoire prevailed against Kiwoong Kwon, 6-4, 6-1, and Andrew Chung, 6-0, 6-1, in their respective singles matches and also took the doubles game, 6-4, 6-4.
In the girls division, the CNMI Girls 1 debuted with a close win over North Pacific Girls, 2-1. Hyejin Elliot and J.C. Ferrer won the deciding doubles match versus FSM’s Leilah Etscheit and Guam’s Monte Gibson, 4-6, 6-3, 10-8. Elliot also downed Gibson in the singles 1 game, 6-1, 6-0, while Etscheit topped Ferrer in the other singles play, 6-3, 6-1.
