Strong finish for Pacific Oceania

From left, Pacific Oceania coach Andrew Mailtorock, the CNMI’s Tammy Ackerman, Palau’s Ayana Rengiil, and Fiji’s Mulan Kamoe pose for a photo during a break in the last qualifying tournament for the 2015 Junior Fed Cup World Finals in Australia last week. (Contributed Photo)

The CNMI’s Tammy Ackerman, Palau’s Ayana Rengiil, and Fiji’s Mulan Kamoe won their playoff games in the last qualifier for the 2015 Junior Fed Cup World Finals in Australia.

The trio represented Pacific Oceania in the qualifier and prevailed against Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan in similar scores, 2-1, to assure the squad a slot to the 2016 final qualifying tournament. Before competing in Australia, Ackerman and company had to participate in the 2015 Junior Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Pre Qualifying in Malaysia last month and they went on to rule the event, beating Sri Lanka to advance in the last qualifier.

In the final qualifier, Pacific Oceania was placed in Group B along with second-ranked China, No. 6 Thailand, and the Philippines. Ackerman and her teammates finished third in the pool with their 1-2 record, dropping their debut against China, 0-3, before bouncing back with a 2-1 triumph over the Philippines and then closing out with a 0-3 defeat at the hands of Thailand.

Against the Philippines, Ackerman delivered the two victories for Pacific Oceania. She swept Chrislyn Colleen Sioson in the second singles game, 6-1, 6-4, and teamed up with Kamoa in downing Sioson and Frances Angelica Santiago in the deciding doubles, 6-3, 6-1. Kamoa fell to Santiago in the first singles match, 6-7 (3), 4-6.

With its third place finish in Group B, Pacific Oceania was relegated to the playoff matches for the ninth to 16th spot and faced a familiar foe in Sri Lanka in the first playoff round last Sunday. Kamoe gave Pacific Oceania its first win after finishing off Rukshika Wijesooriya in the first singles, 6-3, 6-4, while Ackerman bowed to Medhira Samarasinghe, 5-7, 1-6. Kamoe came back in the doubles match and partnered with Rengiil in topping past Wijesooriya and Janali Manaperi, 6-3, 6-1.

The unranked Pacific Oceania made it two in a row in the playoffs and finished No. 13 after pulling off an upset against the eighth-seeded Uzbekistan. Again, Kamoa handed Pacific Oceania two victories, as she prevailed in the first singles match against Veleriya Vorobyova, 6-0, 6-3, and joined forces with Rengiil in slipping past Vorobyova and Laylo Bakhodirova in the doubles, 7-6 (6), 6-2. Ackerman lost the second singles game against Bakhodirova, 1-6, 4-6.

Vanuatu’s Andrew Mailtorock coached the Pacific Oceania Junior Fed Cup Team, which received congratulatory remarks posted at the Oceania Tennis’ Facebook account for making it to the Top 16 in Asia and Pacific.

Meanwhile, top-ranked Australia, China, fourth-seeded Japan, and unranked Indonesia earned tickets to the 2015 Junior Fed Cup World Finals after beating Chinese-Taipei, Thailand, New Zealand, and India in the No. 1 to 8 playoffs, respectively. Only the Top 4 teams in the 16-squad tournament are given slots to the finals, which will be held in Madrid, Spain from Sept. 29 to Oct. 4.