Heo reaches Round of 16 in Noumea

The CNMI’s Ji Hoon Heo won his first match before losing in the Round of 16 in the 2008 Open Junior BNP Paribas de Nouvelle Caledonie tournament’s men’s singles last Sunday in Noumea.

After a bye in the opening round, Heo dominated Tahiti’s Vaitea Lo in the next round, ceding only one game in a 6-1, 6-0 victory.

The 16-year-old netter’s celebration, however, proved short lived as No. 3 Ben Mitchell of Australia stopped the Commonwealth’s top junior netter dead on his tracks with a straight sets wins in the third round.

Mitchell, however, didn’t take the win as easily as his previous 6-0, 6-3 victory over New Zealand’s Alex MacDonald, as Heo gave him all he could handle, especially in the opening set.

Heo nearly beat the No. 3 seed in the opening set before losing 6-7. In an email to the Saipan Tribune, Heo said he was in control of the match until he sprained his ankle.

Ankle injury and all, Heo still pushed Mitchell in the second before the latter took the set and the match, 6-3.

The bitterness of losing in the Round of 16 because of an injury, however, was somehow eased when Heo reached the quarterfinals of the men’s doubles while teaming up with Lorenzo Pineda of Vanuatu.

The Pacific Oceania pair advanced to the second round with a 6-3, 6-0 triumph over New Caledonia’s Titouan Gueneau and Loic Pierre. Heo and Pineda were to face Mitchell and Barrett Franks of New Zealand in the quarters but results were still not available as of press time.

Heo said he is learning a lot from the tournament in the French territory. He said despite the ups (doubles) and downs (lost due to injury in the singles) he is happy he will finally be getting points from the ITF.

“I was winning and then I sprained my ankle bad. Hard luck for me but we’re doing good in doubles. I will be in the world rankings now so I’m glad,” he said.

So far, Heo has accumulated 15 points from the tournament.

The Noumea event, which runs run from June 22 to 27, is a Grade 5 ITF Junior tournament which will give 30 ranking points to the champion, 20 to the runner-up, 15 to the semifinalists, 10 to the quarterfinalists, and five to Round of 16 qualifiers.

Aside from the tournament in New Caledonia, Heo will be leaving for Fiji later this month to compete in the 2008 Pacific Oceania Junior Championships and in the Air Pacific Open Junior Championships. The two events in Fiji will run from June 30 to July 5.

Heo will be leading the North Pacific Team in the POJC, where he will be playing against players from Australia, New Zealand, and selected East and North Pacific bets in the Open Championships.

Heo automatically qualified for the POJC after a runner-up finish in the same event last year, while his other NMI teammates vied for slots in the regional meet through the North Pacific Qualifying Tournament in Guam two weeks ago.

CNMI bets James Camacho, Mayuko Arriola, Dina Jones, Christian Miller, Rafael Jones, and Thea Minor will join Heo to Lautoka after finishing among the Top 3 in the NPQ held at the Rick Ninete Tennis Center in Tamuning.

Ji Hoon Heo, seen here in a file photo, advanced to the Round of 16 in men’s singles of the 2008 Open Junior BNP Paribas de Nouvelle Caledonie.