CNMI's Ji Hoon Heo and two other Pacific Oceania players failed to survive a tough test in the opening round of the 2009 Asian/Oceania Closed Championships on Tuesday at the Seogwipo Tennis Courts in Dongheung-dong, Seogwipo, Jeju-do, Korea.
Up against Korea's No. 1 junior player and world No. 94 Suk-Young Jeong, Heo won only one game, allowing the home bet to cruise to a 6-0, 6-1 triumph in the first round.
“It was a tough day for the Pacific Oceania team,” said coach Jeff Race, who also watched how Samoa's Steffi Carruthers and Papua New Guinea's Abigail Tere-Apisah bowed to their respective opponents.
Tere-Apisah lost to tournament 11th seed Briar Preston of New Zealand, 3-6, 3-6, while Carruthers absorbed a 4-6, 2-6 defeat at the hands of world No. 186 Lee So-Ra of Korea.
The losses in the opening round foiled Heo and company's bids for Junior ITF ranking points. The tournament in Korea is a B1 event, which awards the most ranking points among the regional championships in the Junior ITF Circuit calendar.
The winner in the singles division of the B1 tournament will get 180 points, 120 for finalists, 80 for semifinalists, 60 for quarterfinalists, 30 for losers in the Round of 16, and 20 for the losers in the Round of 32.
There will also be ranking points at stake in the doubles event, which will start today, and Race is positive on his wards chances to get points.
“I am optimistic that we can pick up some points there. Ji Hoon has a good partner from India and his opponents are fairly inexperienced,” Race said in an e-mail to Saipan Tribune.
Heo is paired with Rishabdev Raman, a 16-year-old netter and is ranked at No. 574. He reached as high as No. 356 in the world rankings last year. The Indian netter played more games than Heo, recording a 33-33 mark in the singles and 13-31 in doubles. This year, he holds a 10-13 record in singles and 7-12 in doubles and currently has 70 Junior ITF ranking points.
Heo has career records of 5-18 (singles) and 7-18 (doubles). This year, the world No. 1,102-ranked Heo has a 4-10 slate in singles and 5-11 mark in doubles and has earned 22.5 Junior ITF ranking points. His highest ranking was at No. 959 after a quarterfinals stint in an ITF event in Fiji in June.
Heo and Raman are at the bottom half of the 32-team draw of the doubles event and will play Korea's Sang Yob Kim and Sung Jun Park.
Carruthers and Tere-Apisah are teaming up in the doubles event and are paired against Thailand's Kobkanok Upapong and China's Zi Yang in the first round.
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