Two coaches on top of tennis ladder

Coaches Jeff Race and Luke Beling are ahead in Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association’s ladder tournament.

Jeff Race, left, and Luke Beling exchange high fives after scoring a point against Tommy Choi and Amami Sakano in last year’s PIC Tennis Championships at the Pacific Islands Club hard court. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Race is at the top spot of the men’s 40-and-above division, while Luke Beling has the same achievement in the open category. Rankings are based on the results of challenge matches in each division.

The CNMI national coach is ahead of Raj Rai, Dong Min Lee, Ken Imaya, Fr. Ryan Jimenez, Nicky Nichols, Gary Ramsey, Eric Abragan, Steve Jang, David Lochabay, and Diony Peralta.

In the open division, the Saipan Tennis Academy coach is on top of Moris Villanueva, Bobby Cruz, Race, Peter Loken, Tommy Choi, Colin Ramsey, Raj Rai, Dong Min Lee, Mikayla Lopez, Negahr Rastguiy, Luther Lizama, Ken Imaya, Jimenez, Nichols, Gary Ramsey, Eric Abragan, Michael Ren, and Robbie Schorr. Others on the list are Ken Song, Vincent Tudela, Tony Kim, Clayton Izuka, Steven Goodwin, Richard Asuncion, Woo Sun Cho, and Steven Lee.

In the boys division, Moris Villanueva has the top spot and is joined in the Top 10 by Choi, Colin Ramsey, Lizama, Ren, Schorr, Song, Tudela, Tony Kim, and Izuka. Others on the list are Steven Goodwin, Woo Sun Cho, Steven Lee, Haruya Eda, Joshua Abragan, Aditya Rai, Jimin Woo, Allan Lee, Jeffrey Seo, Brian Kim, Sean Lee, Seung Jin Paik, Daniek Kang, Richard Steele, Chris Kim, and Anthony Gregoire.

In the girls division, Mikayla Lopez leads the 20-player field. Carol Lee is at second place, followed by Negahr Rastguiy, Isabel Heras, Tania Tan, Julia Ishikawa, Ami Tsukagochi, Mimi Sakano, Malika Miyawaki, and Conatsu Kaga. Rounding out the group are Asia Raulerson, Ericka Tuttle, Coume Kaga, Maria Gregoire, Erie Ortega, Ellie Epley, Maaya Sato, Hyejin Elliot, Susan Sablan, and Soleil Lamar.

In the women’s open division, Lopez and Carol Lee switched places with the latter moving to No. 1 spot and the former dropping to second. Joining the Top 2 players in the ladder are Rastguiy, Heras, Marivic Rosario, Lydia Tan, Tisha Ferrer, Julia Ishikawa, Ami Tsukagoshi, Sakano, Miyawaki, and Conatsu Kaga.

The NMITA ladder tennis started in the second quarter of this year and it began with each player having one initial chance to challenge anyone in any position on the ladder. If the player loses that challenge match, he/she will then be placed on the bottom of the ladder and has to challenge to move up. The new ladder participant who wins that initial match moves into the position of the player he/she just defeated.

For the succeeding games, players may challenge upwards a maximum of three positions. Challengers must issue the challenge to higher players and matches must be accepted and scheduled within two weeks of the challenge, unless both players agree to an extension or the ladder director accepts a reasonable reason for a delay. Players not accepting challenges may be dropped from the ladder.

No player may be challenged more than once a week, while matches will be two sets, regular scoring and in case of a tie, a super tiebreaker will be in effect. Games halted by rain or other acceptable reasons must be played within a week or the win will be awarded to the leading player.

“The ladder has never stopped. It’s an ongoing, never-ending event, similar to the ITF rankings/ ATP Tour, except for Saipan players only. The problem now of course is courts. AMP (American Memorial Park) is down and hotel courts aren’t made available to the public so it’s difficult. Hopefully AMP will be up and running soon,” said Beling, who is also the ladder games coordinator.