Christian Miller lived up to his lofty billing, while Chris Cajigan got off to a rousing start, as the two CNMI junior netters swept their opening day assignments in the 2010 Pacific Oceania Junior Championships last Monday in Fiji.
Miller was seeded No. 1 in Pool B of the boys U14 division and had two games in Day 1 of the annual tournament at the Northern Club courts in Lautoka. He debuted with an impressive 6-0, 6-1 win over Jake Bergman of the Cook Islands in the morning match and then made it two in a row, following a 6-2, 6-1 victory over John Martin Kaiulo of Papua New Guinea. Miller was scheduled to close his pool play assignment yesterday against Roland Neururer.
Cajigan, who is seeded second in Pool A in the boys U12 division, played at the Nadi Sports Club courts in Nadi, was pitted against Kevin Maukolo of American Samoa in his first game, and won in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2. Cajigan then improved to a 2-0 record after a three-set triumph over Harley Cronin of Samoa, 6-2, 6-7, 6-2.
Cajigan was set to play two more games in his pool yesterday. He was slated to meet American Samoa's Martin Duchnak in the morning game and Vanuatu's Liam Suttie in the afternoon.
Besides Cajigan and Miller, eight other CNMI netters are playing in the POJC, representing the North Pacific Team.
In the girls U14 division, Mikayla Lopez lost his POJC debut after bowing to PNG's Lorish Puluspene in the morning match, 3-6, 1-6. However, the CNMI netter recovered big time in the afternoon game, stunning Pool A top seed Assya Trimari of New Caledonia, 6-0, 6-1.
Also posting a 1-1 record in Day 1 was 14-year-old Thea Minor, who is playing in the girls U18 at the Regional Training Center courts in Lautoka. Minor won her first game against Lelian Maui of the Cook Islands, 6-3, 7-5, but failed to sweep her Day 1 assignments after bowing to Meryl Pydo of New Caledonia, 3-6,1-6.
The 14-year-old Rafael Jones is also playing in the U18 age group and dropped his opening match against Chris Sami of the Cook Islands, 5-7, 1-6. Jones led at 4-1 in the first set, before losing his focus in the closing part of the opening set. Jones' next foe was Luke Paeni of the Solomon Islands and he also lost, 2-6, 1-6.
Also dropping two games in the opening day of the POCJ were U12's Carl Dela Cruz and Melody Johnson. The debuting Dela Cruz was in Pool B and lost to Tiernan Bren of Fiji 4-6, 2-6, and Torea Bontoman of Kiribati, 1-6, 0-6. Johnson was paired against fellow North player Katie Lai of Guam and lost, 6-7, 3-6, and then bowed to Alesi Molotai of Tuvalu, 1-6, 2-6.
The CNMI's lone bet in the girls U12 division-Negahr Rastguiy-drew a bye in the first round of the pool play. She is seeded first in Pool A and was scheduled to face Kiribati' Aresi Mwea and the Solomon Islands' Vinda Teally yesterday.
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