Tuttle gets first singles title of season

Erika Tuttle returns to Sakiko Eda during their women’s 3.0 singles title match in the 16th PIC Tennis Championships last Sunday at the Pacific Islands Club courts. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Erika Tuttle ended her string of runner-up victories this season after winning the women’ s 3.0 singles event in the 16th PIC Tennis Championships held over the weekend at the Pacific Islands Club courts.

The CNMI junior player earned her first singles crown in the 2015-2016 season following a 6-1, 6-0 finals victory over Sakiko Eda last Sunday. Tuttle made it to the finals after sweeping another adult player Chiharu Sato last Saturday, 6-4, 6-1, while Eda advanced when she topped Seon Hee Kim in the other semis pairing, 6-0, 6-3.

Before her title conquest last weekend, Tuttle had bridesmaid finishes in first three tournaments under Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association’s calendar of events. In the 7th Tan Holdings Tennis Classic held in November last year. Tuttle lost in the girls U12 finals against Coume Kaga, 3-6, 4-6. In the girls U14 singles contest of the 2016 White Coconut Tennis Classic early last month, she fell to Kaga anew in the semis, 2-6, 6-2, 7-10, while Tuttle absorbed another finals defeat at the hands of the same foe in the opening week of the PIC tournament, 4-6, 6-3, 1-6.

Meanwhile, four other players ruled the remaining singles events that were featured in the second and final week of the annual competition.

One of them was CNMI coach Jeff Race, who also got his first singles title of the season after topping the men’s Open field. Race, who lost in the semifinals to Bobby Cruz in the 7th Tan Holdings Tennis Classic, had the last laugh in the third tournament of the season after rallying past junior player Moris Villanuva in the finals.

The CNMI Sports Hall of Famer bowed to Villanueva in the opening set, 4-6, before flashing his old lethal form in the last two, 6-2, 6-1, to record a come-from-behind win. Before his super tiebreaker third set victory against Villanueva, Race swept two opponents to march into the finals as he defeated Vincent Tudela, 6-2, 6-2, and Raj Rai, 6-4, 6-1. Rai punched the semis ticket at the bottom half of the draw after eliminating Robbie Schorr, 7-5, 6-3.

At the top half of the draw, Villanueva knocked off Dong Min Lee, 6-4, 6-1, and Michael Ren, 6-1, 3-0 (retired) to set up a finals duel against Race. Ren challenged Villanueva for the right to face Race in the finals after winning over Steven Goodwin, 6-2, 6-1.

In the women’s Open singles, which used a round-robin format, Carol Lee finished on top after beating Isabel Heras, 6-0, 6-1, and shutting down Asia Raulerson. Heras ended up at second place after a 7-6 (7-4) , 6-2 triumph over Raulerson.

In the men’s 3.0 singles, Ji Min Woo dominated Sean Lee in the finals, 6-0, 6-2, to collect his third singles title in the PIC tournament. Woo, who took the boys U12 and U14 crowns in Week 1, moved a win away from a third straight championship after ousting J.R. Jacinto in the semis, 6-4, 6-2. Lee, on the other hand, won over Nick Villalon, 7-6, (7-4), 6-2, to advance to the finals.

In the men’s 4.0 singles finals, Donn Dunlop also needed only two sets to prevail against Gary Ramsey, 6-2, 6-2.