CNMI junior netter Ji Hoon Heo improved his head-to-head record against former Drake University standout Kirk Schuler to 2-0 after pulling off a straight set win in their title game in the men's open singles division of the 2009 DFS Micronesian Tennis Championships Sunday at the Pacific Islands Club hard courts.
Heo, who defeated Schuler in the same event in last month's 9th Annual PIC Tennis Championships, made it two in a row after a 6-2, 7-5 triumph in Sunday's finale.
The 17-year-old CNMI netter advanced to the title game after outclassing CNMI coach Jeff Race in the semifinals, 6-2, 6-4. Race stunned former junior player and three-time CNMI junior championship winner Hee Seung Kim, 6-1, 6-4, in the quarterfinals. Heo won his first match over Woo Suk Chang, 6-1, 6-0.
In the lower bracket of the men's open singles draw, Schuler shut out Tomonori Imazato, 6-0, 6-0, to arrange a semis tiff against another former CNMI junior player, Nicolas Son. Son downed Peter Loken, 6-1, 6-4, to move into the semifinals.
In the round-robin women's open singles, 13-year-old Thea Minor bested three other players. Minor had the women's open singles title in the bag after beating eventual runner-up and fellow junior player Melody Johnson, 6-2, 6-1. Jodel Fernandez and Kinumi Taniguchi were the two other participants in the women's open singles.
Christian Miller became the third junior player to secure a championship in the adults singles. He thwarted Diony Peralta in the men's 3.0 singles finals in three sets. Miller lost the opening set, 2-6, but stunned Peralta with an impressive 6-0 win. The CNMI boys' 14-and-under player completed the come-from-behind victory with a 6-3 triumph in the deciding third set.
Other singles winners in the second and final week of the two-weekend tournament were Hector Benitez, Fernando Cajigan, Sakiko Eda, and Cleofe Santos.
Benitez foiled a fourth win for the CNMI Junior Team when he outlasted Rafael Jones in the men's 4.0 singles finals, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
In the men's 40-and-above finale, Cajigan also needed three sets to down Dong Min Lee, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3.
The women's 3.0 singles also went to three sets with Eda prevailing over Lihua Liang, 6-2, 2-6, 6-1, while Santos had a lucky break in the women's 40-and-above finals when Matty Buenaventura retired after winning the first set, 7-5, and the second set tied at 4-all.
In the juniors doubles, sisters Thea and Theecel Minor triumphed over Johnson and Fernandez in the girls' U16 finals, 6-4, 6-3.
The boys' U16 title went to Chang and Sung Hoon Ham, who defeated Rafael Jones and Andy Nutting in the finals, 6-2, 6-1.
In the boys' U12 finals, Colin Ramsey teamed up with Chris Park and they won over Carl Dela Cruz and Moris Villanueva in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2..
The pair of Alina Ishikawa and Mikayla Lopez survived the tandem of Gabrielle Race and Emily Jones in the girls' U12 finals, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.
The men's 4.0 title game, which was set for the first week of the tournament, was played last week with Ronnie Lacbayo and Richard Asuncion winning over Chuck Sayon and Hee Seung Kim, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
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