Tan, Imaya top over 40 mixed doubles event

From left, mixed doubles’ 4.0 runners-up Diony Peralta and Marivic Rosario and champions Lydia Tan and David Lai pose with their plaques during the awards ceremony for the 7th Tan Holdings Tennis Classic last Sunday at the Hibiscus Hall of Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan. (Contributed Photo)

Tournament director Lydia Tan and Ken Imaya dethroned 2014 champions Don Dunlop and Marivic Rosario after winning the over 40 mixed doubles event in the 7th Annual Tan Holdings Tennis Classic.

The Tan-Imaya defeated the top-ranked duo of Rosario and Dunlop in the semifinals, 7-6 (4), 6-4, at the Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan court last Saturday and then earned 7-5, 6-4 victory in the finals against the tandem of Arn Diaz and Raj Rai to clinch the division crown. Diaz and Rai made it to the finals following a 6-0, 6-1 triumph against Karen Ramsey and Landon Nadler.

The over 40 mixed doubles victory was sort of a revenge for Tan, who teamed up with David Lai last year when they lost to Rosario and Dunlop in the finals, 3-6, 4-6.

Tan and Lai still joined forces in this year’s competition and ruled the mixed doubles 4.0 division after earning a 2-0 record in the round-robin contest. The Tan-Lai pair got its first win against last year’s runners-up Rosario and Diony Peralta, 7-6 (4), 6-4), last Saturday and the second versus Annie and George Lai, 6-2, 6-3.

Meanwhile, eight other pairs were crowned champions in the final week of the Tan Holdings-backed event.

In the open mixed doubles, coach Jeff Race teamed up with junior player Isabel Heras in beating their two opponents in the round-robin contest. Race and Heras prevailed over Malika Miyawaki and Tony Kim, 6-3, 6-2, in last Saturday’s morning match and then slipped past eventual runners-up Bobby Cruz and Negahr Rastguiy in the afternoon game, 7-5, 5-7, 10-3, to bag the division championship.

In the open men’s doubles finals, Luke Beling and Martin Jambor swept junior players Dylan Ackerman and Seiya Eda, 6-1, 6-1, while Conatsu Kaga and Miyawaki won the all-juniors finale in the women’s doubles 4.0 after beating Mimi Sakano and Ami Tsukagoshi, 6-3, 6-3. Miyawaki and Kaga marched into the finals after eliminating the mother-and-daughter pair of Mihoko and Erika Tuttle, 6-1, 5-4 (retired), while Sakano and Tsukagoshi ousted Wendi Herring and Annie Lai, 6-0, 7-5.

In the men’s doubles 4.0, the veteran duo of Ronnie Lacbayo and Don Castillo outclassed the junior pair of Steven Goodwin and Vincent Tudela, 6-4, 3-6, 10-6. Top-ranked Tudela and Goodwin barged into the finals after a 6-1, 6-1 semis triumph over Roy Banados and Art Lopez, while Castillo and Lagbayo stunned the No. 2 pair of Bong Gamab and Edgardo Sergio in the other Final Four pairing, 6-0, 7-6 (2).

In the men’s doubles 3.0, Alex Park and Clayton Izuka took the division championship after winning over Haruya Eda and A.J. Hudins, 6-4, 6-2, and the father and son tandem of Randy and Richard Steele, 6-2, 6-3. In the women’s division, Ayumi Kaga and Keiko Ojima also went 2-0 to top the event following their victories over the pairs of Ami Miyawaki and Megumi Sekiguchi, 6-2, 6-1, and Hyun and Sun Sook Lee (walkover).

In the mixed doubles 3.0, Grace Choi partnered with Hudkins in winning over Vickie Izuka and Daniele Colombo (walkover) and May Ling Colombo and Rintaro Miyawaki, 6-0, 6-1.

Donn Dunlop and Nicky Nichols completed the doubles winners in last weekend’s competition after topping the men’s over 40 division. The No. 1 seeds secured the division title after a 6-4, 10-4 win over Guam’s David Lai and Hong Kong’s Eddie Wu. Wu and Lai gained a finals berth following a 7-6 (5), 6-3 semis win over Castillo and Imaya, while Nichols and Dunlop booted out Neo Masinda and Peralta in the other Final Four duel, 6-1, 6-4.