Top seeds advance in Coconut Classic

Action in the 2009 Coconut Class Tennis Tournament continued Sunday with 28 singles matches and 15 doubles games played at the American Memorial Park tennis courts.

After majority of the players in the boys’ 14-and-under division drew byes in the first round on Saturday, games heated up Sunday with eight netters moving into the quarterfinals.

Top two seeds Rafael Jones and Christian Miller led the list of quarterfinalists after beating Chris Park, 8-6, and Seiya Eda, 8-1, respectively. Park advanced against Jones after topping John Cano in the first round, while Eda won his debut against Peter Lee, 8-2.

Completing the quarterfinals cast were Andrew Johnson, Lucas Nutting, Chris Cajigan, Clay McCullough-Stearns, Jake Lee, and Angelo Jones.

Johnson prevailed over Daniel Park, 8-6, Nutting and Cajigan won via walkovers, McCullough-Stearns nipped Tom Choi, 8-6, and Angelo crushed Dylan Ackerman, 8-3.

In the boys’ 18-and-under, three had already nailed semis slots, namely Woo Suk Chang, Nathan Nutting, and Sung Hoon Ham.

Woo Sung defeated Bradley Brostrom, 8-1, Nutting shut out Min Suk Kim, 8-0, and Sung Hoon outlasted Andy Nutting, 8-4. Ji Hoon Ham and Tinian native Benjie Decena will battle for the last semis ticket.

The men’s 40-and-above singles is only one semifinalist short after Nanding Cajigan, Richard Brostrom, and Alex Martin nailed the first three Final Four berth.

Cajigan won over Mike Johnson, 8-6, Brostrom whipped Steve Nutting, 8-2, and Martin downed Chuck Sayon, 8-6.

In the men’s open singles’ lone game, Chris Nelson outclassed Ho Suk Chang, 8-4, to set up a semis duel with Peter Loyola. The three other matches in the men’s open singles and the rest of the games in other divisions will be played this weekend until Monday.

In the girls’ 18-and-under division, two more games were played Sunday with Thea Minor and Lila Mailman notching their second win.

Thea showed no love lost to older sister Theecel following the former’s 8-5 win. Thea won her first game against Jodel Fernandez Saturday, 8-1. Mailman also defeated Fernandez Sunday, 8-1.

In the girls’ 10-and-under, Julia Ishikawa marched to the semis in no sweat winning via walkover against Tammy Ackerman.

In the boys’ 10-and-under, top seed Carl Dela Cruz led the quarterfinals cast, which also includes Michael Jones, Moris Villanueva, Aaron Lee, Josh Mateo, Colin Ramsey, J.H. Lee, and Kennedy Izuka.

Izuka blanked John Paul Tamayo, 6-0, J.L. Lee downed Clayton Izuka, 7-6 (7-5), Ramsey beat Gee Su Hohn, 6-1, Mateo won via walkover against Steve Goodwin, Aaron whipped Thomas Lim, 6-1, Villanueva defeated Alex Park, 6-0, Jones topped Badha Lee, 6-2, and Dela Cruz pounded Michael Ren, 6-0.

In the mixed-up doubles division of the tournament supported by Department of Public Health’s Wise Women Village Project, 15 pairs advanced to the third round.