Ji Hoon Heo's debut in the doubles event of the 2009 Asian/Oceania Closed Championships in South Korea went the distance before he and teammate Rishabdev Raman lost to the host's bets.
Heo and Raman bounced back from a 0-4 deficit in the opening set of their first round match against Korea's Sang Yob Kim and Sung Jun Park to eke out a 7-5 victory on Wednesday at the Seogwipo Tennis Courts in Dongheung-dong, Seogwipo, Jeju-do.
In the second set, it was the Korean tandem's turn to recover via a 6-3 triumph to force a deciding third set.
CNMI mentor Jeff Race, who is also in Korea to coach Heo and two other female players of the Pacific Oceania Team, said the third set was a seesaw battle and unfortunately, Heo and Raman were on the losing end.
“They lost in a super tiebreaker, 10-7,” Race said in an e-mail to Saipan Tribune.
Heo is done for the tournament, as he also lost his opening-round match in the boys singles against Korea's top junior netter and world-ranked No. 94 Suk-Young Jeong, 0-6, 1-6.
Samoa's Steffi Carruthers and Papua New Guinea's Abigail Tere-Apisah also played in a three-set opening round in the girls doubles and had the breaks on their side.
The two Pacific Oceania netters dropped the opening set of their match against Thailand's Kobkanok Upapong and China's Zi Yang, 2-6, but stayed alive with a 6-3 triumph in the second set.
Carruthers and Tere-Apisah then lived for another day after a hard-earned 10-5 tiebreaker victory. The Pacific Oceania girls' doubles team will face Korea's Jang Su Jeong and Lee So-Ra in the second round today.
Today's second round doubles match will give Carruthers an opportunity to avenge her loss to Lee, who defeated the Samoan bet in the first round of the girls singles on Tuesday, 6-4, 6-2.
The tournament in Korea will run until Nov. 8 and also features players from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong, Chinese-Taipei, China, Thailand, India, Uzbekistan, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
The five-day netfest 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. Lesser points are awarded in doubles event.
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