Saipan Tribune

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

11 more semis seats taken in Coconut Classic

Eleven more players secured semis seats in the 2013 White Coconut Tennis Classic after surviving Week 1 of the competition at the American Memorial Park tennis courts.

In the girls U12 singles, Asia Raulerson, Tania Tan, Malika Miyawaki, and Grace Choi won their quarterfinals matches last Sunday to complete the Final Four cast. Raulerson stunned top-ranked Hanah Nelson, 8-2 to set up a semis duel against Tan, who drew a bye in the first round last Saturday and advanced after an 8-1 triumph over Coume Kaga last Sunday.

Also last Sunday, Miyawaki defeated Catherine Atalig to march into the semis against Grace Cho, who eliminated Mimi Sakano with an 8-4 victory in their quarterfinals tiff.

The boys U10 singles is also down to four players after Sean Lee and Gangmin Kim won their respective matches last Sunday. Lee topped Eugene Park, 6-3, while Kim routed Jamin Elliot, 6-1. With their victories, Lee and Kim earned the right to face Aditya Rai and Kentaro Miyawaki in the semifinals, respectively, this weekend.

In the men's open singles, only one slot is left after Raj Rai, Dong Min Lee, and Thea Minor occupied the first three seats. Raj Rai advanced following an 8-1 win over Gary Ramsey last Sunday, while Lee had a free ride to the semis with a walkover triumph versus Eric Abragan. Minor took the third semis ticket after ousting Jon Posner, 8-2, while top seed Rafael Jones and Tommy Choi will dispute the fourth and last berth this weekend.

Jones and Minor are also entered in the boys U18 singles and automatically made it to the Final Four after getting byes in Week 1. Joining them in the semis are Amami Sakano and Tommy Choi. Sakano arranged a semis battle against Jones after edging Daniel Park, 8-6, while Choi forced a duel versus Minor, following an 8-1 triumph over Seiya Eda.

In other results in Week 1 of the White Coconut Classic, Haruya Eda and Tony Atalig clamed the last two quarterfinals berth in the boys U12 singles. Eda shut out Jeffrey Seo last Sunday, 8-0, to set a date against Vincent Tudela, who drew a bye last weekend.

Atalig booted out Mondo Taniguchi, 8-2, to barge into the next round against Joshua Abragan. Other Round of 8 pairings in the boys U12 are Goodwin versus Kevin Kim and Michael Jones against Robbie Schorr.

In the round-robin girls U18 singles, Mikayla Lopez drew first blood, whipping Alina Ishikawa last Sunday, 8-1. Negahr Rastguiy and Melody Johnson are also in the field and will be playing this weekend.

The girls U10 singles also has a round-robin format with Jireh Warren and Ellie Epley gaining their first win last weekend. Warren pounded Maria Gregore last Saturday, 6-0, while Epley downed Erica Tuttle, 6-2.