Lee eases way to q’finals

Carol Lee is in the quarterfinals of the singles and doubles events in the 2017 Tecnifibre Tennis Central Championships in New Zealand. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

The CNMI’s Carol Lee is two steps away from reaching the finals of the both the singles and doubles events in the 2017 Tecnifibre Tennis Central Championships.

Lee is now in the quarterfinals after prevailing in the third round matches yesterday at the Renouf Tennis Centre in Wellington, New Zealand.

In the singles event, the No. 2 seed Lee gained her third straight win following a sweep of No. 14-ranked Otoha Aoki of Japan, 6-1, 6-1. The CNMI bet has yet to drop a single set in her three victories as she also dominated New Zealand’s Jourdan Craig, 6-0, 6-0, and Tamara Anderson, 6-3, 6-4, in the first two rounds.

Lee’s perfect record will be tested today when she takes on the No. 6 seed Nina Paripovich for one of two semis berths at the lower half of the draw. The Commonwealth player is eyeing revenge against the Kiwi netter, who along with compatriot Emilia Price defeated Lee and Fiji’s Mulan Kamoe in the semifinals of the doubles event in the Wilson Tennis Canterbury ITF last week in Christchurch.

Paripovich will face Lee for the second time following her hard-earned win against Japan’s Misaki Kobayashi in Round 3. The Kiwi dropped the closely fought opening set, 6-7 (5), but avoided elimination after prevailing in the last two, 6-3, 6-4.

Besides Lee and Paripovich, the sixth other qualifiers in the quarterfinals are all seeded players, too. The list includes top-ranked Mana Kawamura, No. 3 Risa Fukutoku, and No. 8 Momoko Nagato of Japan, No. 7 Jenny Wong and No. 5 Justine Jeong of Hong Kong, and No. 4 Oleksandra Kalachiva of New Zealand.

In the doubles, all quarterfinalists are also ranked teams with the No. 7 seed Lee and Kamoe making the grade after ousting New Zealand’s Ivy Mclean and Sarah Weekley, 6-1, 6-4. The Pacific Oceania players are at the upper half of the draw and will have the toughest assignment in the quarterfinals as they duel No. 1 seed Kawamura and Fukutoku. The Japanese pair advanced to the Round of 8 after downing No. 15 seed and New Zealand’s Amelia Lawson and Anderson, 6-3, 6-4.

If Lee and Kamoe pull off an upset over their Japanese opponents, they will face in the semifinals the winner in the quarterfinal game between the pairs of No. 13 Sophie Michl and Momoko Nagato and No. 12 Yuna Ohashi Jiho Shin.

The other Round of 8 pairings will have Australia’s Maggie Pearce and Tully Richter challenging fellow unranked players Sumire Kimura and Miku Nakane of Japan and No. 10 Sophia Fry and Skyler Grishuk meeting No. 2 tandem of Leong and Wong.