Saipan Tribune

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Ackerman makes finals of Aussie tourney

Tammy Ackerman barged into the finals of the consolation draw of the girls U14 singles event in the 2013 Australia Post Margaret Court Cup.

The CNMI junior player defeated Maddison Stark, 8-3, yesterday morning at the Albury Grasscourts in Albury, New South Wales, Australia to book the finals berth in the top half of the consolation bracket.

The victory was Ackerman's fourth in a row after dropping her opening game against No. 7 seed Beatrice Hetrel last Sunday morning in the main draw. The Commonwealth bet first won over Bronte Argent last Sunday afternoon, 8-2, and then defeated Amanda Laurent, 8-4, and Annabel Jaskiewicz, last Monday to make it to the Final Four.

Ackerman then faced Stark in one of the opening matches yesterday morning and extended her streak before bowing to the No. 8 seed Chorlida Kang in the finals on the same morning, 3-8. Ackerman and Stark's semis tiff was set for 8am (7am Saipan time) and it finished at 9:06, while the finals match was scheduled for 10:30am and was also completed after an hour.

Though she fell short in the finals, Ackerman's performance in the girls U14 singles this year was better than her debut in the same tournament in 2012. She lost her first game in the main draw of the U12 singles last year, bowing to Jasmin Starr, 7-6, 4-6, 6-7, and won only one match in the consolation draw. In the U12 doubles, Ackerman and Mercy Jane Eze fell to Jenae Bangweni and Jaslyn Skilbeck right in the first round, giving the former a dismal 1-2 record in her first stint in the Post Margaret Court Cup.

This year, the 13-year-old Ackerman posted an 8-3 record with a 66.7 winning percentage in singles (4-2) and 50 percent in doubles (1-1). She won six sets and loss five for a 54.5 winning percentage and had a 62-59 games won/loss record.

Meanwhile, Negahr Rastguiy and partner Ayana Rengiil of Palau missed a finals appearance in the girls U14 doubles when they fell to their seeded foes last Monday afternoon.

The Pacific Oceania tandem lost the one-hour and two minute semis match to top-ranked Alana Bourgeois and Lauren Smilesk of Australia, 4-8. The seeded pair was scheduled to face Kang and Jaskiewicz in the finals yesterday afternoon and results of the match were unavailable at press time.

Mikayla Lopez also dropped her last match in Albury, as she bowed to No. 5 Maggie Snowdon in the battle for third place in the girls U16 singles yesterday morning, 6-1, 6-1.

From Albury, Lopez and company headed to Victoria to compete in the 2013 Victorian Junior Grasscourt Championships, which will run from Jan. 9 to 13 at the Wodonga Tennis Centre. (Saipan Tribune)