Lee, Ramsey make finals in Fiji

Colim Ramsey, seen here going for a return from the backline in a local tournament last year at the PIC courts, made it to the finals of the boys U16 doubles event in the 2014 Pacific Oceania Junior Championships in Fiji. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Lee advanced to the finals of the girls U14 singles yesterday, the same day her fellow CNMI players—Robbie Schorr, Malikawa Miyawaki, and Luther Lizama—lost their respective semis matches in Fiji. Lee faced Fiji’s Ruby Coffin in the upper bracket semis and avoided the latter’s upset axe after sweeping the last two sets of their Final Four duel. Coffin stunned Lee in the opening set, 6-2, but the CNMI player got her act together in the second set, 7-5, and completed the come-from-behind win with an equally tough 6-4 triumph in the deciding third set.

The top-ranked Lee will battle the girls U14 championship against New Caledonia and second seed Lea Bolo, who waltzed past Fiji’s Vienna Kumar, 6-0, 6-2, to gain the other finals berth. The finals duel between the Top 2 seeds is slated for today.

While Lee survived her semis opponents Lizama, Miyawaki, and Schorr did not.

Schorr’s streak ended when he bowed to Vanuatu’s Clement Mainguy in the bottom bracket semis, 6-7 (3), 6-1, in the boys U12 singles. Before losing the semis, Schorr, who advanced to the finals last year, swept his three games in the pool play. Schorr will now have to settle for the battle for third place match against Kiribati’s Banien Ioera, who fell to top-ranked Gillian Osmont of Tahiti in the other semis pairing, 0-6, 0-6.

In the girls U12 singles, the then unbeaten Miyawaki missed a finals stint after dropping her semis game against Tahiti’s Lea Lamorelle, 3-6, 2-6. The other semis match yesterday was also won by Tahiti with top-ranked Naia Guitton eliminating Samoa’s Eleanor Schuster, 6-1, 6-0. Michael Emery was the fourth Tahitian player to barge into the finals after ousting the Lizama in the lower bracket semis in the boys U14 singles, 6-0, 6-1. Emery will go for the division championship against American Samoa’s Larry Maglasan, who foiled an all-Tahiti title showdown after downing Tahiti’s Honoarii Joutain, 3-6, 6-0, 6-0.

Meanwhile, Ramsey made up for his lackluster showing in the singles event by marching into the finals of the boys U16 doubles. He partnered with the Federated States of Micronesia’s Terry Rush and they survived Tahiti’s Rehiti Chin Meun and Manoa Desvignes in last Wednesday’s semis match, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 10-6, to arrange a finals duel against American Samoa’s Kevin Maukoloa and Jummah Vugas. The two American Samoa bets went on to beat Ramsey and Rush in yesterday’s finale, 7-5, 6-2.

In other doubles results, Lee and Tania Tan were stunned in the girls U14 semis, falling to Bolo and Kumar, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-10. The two other CNMI players—Julia Ishikawa and Ami Tsukagoshi—entered in the same event also dropped their Final Four assignment to eventual champions Coffin and Vanuatu’s Emma Maucotel, who swept Bolo and Kumar in the finals, 6-4, 6-4.

In the boys U14 doubles, Lizama teamed up with Guam’s Mason Caldwell and after winning in the quarterfinals, the two North Pacific players fell to Tahiti’s Harley Cronin and Maglasan in the semis, 6-0, 7-5. Maglasan and Cronin also won in the finals against Emery and Joutain, 6-1, 7-6 (10).

In the boy U12 doubles, Schorr and Ken Song only made it to the semifinals. The duo drew a bye in the first round and lost to Mainguy and Samuel Strid of Vanuatu in the semis, 5-7, 4-6. Tahiti’s Osmont and Vaitea Molinier topped the event, following a 6-4, 5-7, 10-5 triumph over the Vanuatu pair.

In the girls U12 doubles, the CNMI’s Conatsu Kaga and teammate Leafine Cronin of Samoa also faltered in their finals bid after bowing to the top-ranked pair of Guitton and Schuster in the semis, 6-0, 6-1. The top-ranked duo then was then upset by American Samoa’s Crystal Christman and Lamorelle in the finals, 6-3, 6-1.