Song waltzes way to boys U12 finals

Ken Song swept Sean Lee, 6-2, 6-0, in the semifinals of the boys U12 singles division of the 2014 CNMI Junior Tennis Championships last Saturday at the Pacific Islands Club hard court.

Song was seeded first in the division and will be making his first finals appearance in the age group. He will be paired against the second-ranked Tony Kim, who bagged the finals berth in the lower half of the draw after beating Aditya Rai in the other Final Four pairing, 6-1, 6-0.

Six players are entered in the boys U12 singles with Lee eliminating Rintaro Miyawaki, 6-4, 6-3, to advance to the semifinals in the top half of the draw against Song. At the bottom half, Rai made short work of Eugene Park, 6-3, 6-0, to force a semis duel against Kim. Despite losing to Kim in the semis, Rai still had a podium finish, as he thwarted Lee in the battle for third place, 8-4. In the other consolation match, Miyawaki prevailed against Park, 8-1.

Meanwhile, four other age groups had their singles games over the weekend at the PIC and Kanoa Resort hard courts. In the boys U14 singles, Luther Lizama and Vincent Tudela survived separate foes to set their finals showdown, while the other finals pairings will have Morris Villanueva dueling Tommy Choi for the boys U18 singles crown. The boys U10 division has a round-robin format and Ji Min Woo holds an edge over three others with an unbeaten 2-0 record.

Woo won his first match at Kanoa last Friday after shutting down Eu Bin Park, 6-0, and returned to the same court last Saturday to top Daniel Kang, 6-1. In the other boys U10 results, Miyawaki outclassed Kang at the PIC hard court last Sunday, 6-3.

Lizama also played at PIC last weekend and took only two sets to thwart Robbie Schorr in the upper bracket semifinals, 6-2, 6-4. Schorr moved into the semis after eliminating Steven Goodwin, 6-3, 6-2, while Lizama drew a bye in the first round.

In the lower half of the draw, Tudela cruised to a 6-0, 6-2 win over Steven Lee in the quarterfinals and had a similar easy victory against Haruya Eda in the semis, 6-0, 6-1. Eda gained a semis ticket after slipping past A.J. Hudkins in the quarterfinals, 1-6, 6-4, 6-4.

In the boys U18 singles, Villanueva and Choi needed only two sets to boot out their respective foes. Villanueva first defeated Jake Lee, 6-2, 6-0, and then stunned the top-ranked Amami Sakano in the semis, 6-0, 6-0 to make it to the finals. Choi also swept Colim Ramsey in his first match, 6-2, 6-4, and remained unbeaten after a 6-4, 6-4 win over Daniel Park in the semifinals last Sunday at PIC.

Title games in the boys singles and the girls singles and doubles will be played this weekend. Results in the girls singles and doubles will be reported later this week.