Saipan Tribune

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Monday, January 14, 2013

CNMI jr. players make q'finals of Aussie tourney

Tammy Ackerman, Negahr Rastguiy, and Mikayla Lopez capped their campaign in the 2013 Victorian Junior Grasscourt Championships with a quarterfinals appearance in their respective singles events.

Both Ackerman and Rastguiy played in the U14 singles over the weekend and marched into the Round of 8 at the Wodonga Tennis Centre in Victoria, Australia. Ackerman was at the upper half of the 26-player field and won her first round match over Kellie Bairstow, 6-0, 6-0. The Fiji-based CNMI player then stunned the No. 6 seed Stephanie Pang in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1, to advance to the quarterfinals.

The 13-year-old Ackerman faced another seeded foe in the Round of 8 when she collided against fourth-ranked Samantha Nyika, who eventually ended the former's run with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 triumph.

Rastguiy was on the lower half of the U14 singles draw and also notched two wins to make it to the quarterfinals. She swept Nada Milenkovic in the first round, 6-1, 6-0, and nailed another two-set win over the third-ranked Kate Vaughan, 7-6, 6-1, before bowing to No. 8 seed Chorlida Kang in the quarterfinals, 7-6, 6-3.

Despite their quarterfinal losses, Ackerman and Rastguiy completed their stint in the Victorian Junior Grasscourt Championships on a winning note. Ackerman finished fifth place overall after posting two victories in the consolation bracket. She prevailed over Yazlyn Way and then cruised past Bonnie Usher, 6-1, 6-0, to take the No. 5 spot. Rastguiy, who recovered quickly from a sore toe, finished at No. 7, following a 6-2, 6-1 triumph over Way.

In the girls U16, Lopez also topped her consolation draw and ended up in fifth place out of 16 players. She started her bid with a straight set win versus Micaela Mckimmie, 6-2, 6-0, before losing to third-ranked Maddison Brackenreg, 6-4, 6-0, in the quarterfinals. The CNMI bet went on to play in the battle for fifth to eighth place and won over Pacific Oceania teammate and American Samoa's Anastasia Tapusoa, 6-3, 6-1, and Australia's Kayla Donovan, 6-0, 6-2, to finish fifth in the field.

Lopez also played in the U16 doubles with Tapusoa, but they fell to No. 3 seed Lorish Puluspene of Papua New Guinea and Maggie Snowdon of Australia in the semis, 1-6, 2-6. (Saipan Tribune)