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Flashback: Gregoire, Hwang deliver
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Posted on Apr 21 2020
Gregoire
With the CNMI Junior Tennis Championship scheduled this month moved to a later date due to the coronavirus pandemic, let’s look back at the performance of two outstanding players in the same competition last year.
First up is Anthony Gregoire, who won a nearly three-hour marathon match against David Kwon.
With the boys U14 singles title on the line, neither Gregoire nor Kwon was willing to let their guards down in the finals game that went to a super-tiebreaker third set and became one of the longest tennis matches in the CNMI.
Gregoire drew first blood after taking a 6-3 triumph in the opener. Down, but definitely not out, Kwon bounced back in the second set with a convincing 2-6 triumph to force a rubber. In the decider, Kwon and Gregoire went back-and-forth and the duel that seemed to have no ending finally wrapped up with the latter escaping with a grueling 22-20 victory.
The tough title win was a good send-off gift for Gregoire, who is now based in Guam.
Incidentally, Gregoire’s finals triumph over Kwon was recorded on April 21 last year.
Hwang
Also accomplished on the same day was Juncheol Hwang’s sweep of the boys U12 titles in three tournaments under the Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association’s calendar for the 2018-2019 season.
Hwang marked a 3-peat in the age group after topping Nason Wessel in the finals of the then DFS-sponsored CNMI Junior Championships, 6-0, 6-1. The 12-year-old made it two in a row against Wessel, as Hwang also prevailed in their title showdown in the 19th Pacific Islands Club Tennis Championships held in March last year. Hwang, earlier, took the age group crown in the 2019 White Coconut Tennis Classic after beating June Yu, 6-1, 6-1, to start his successful season.
Hwang is now competing in the U14 division and will be one of the players that will return to the court once local competitions resume.
This year’s CNMI Junior Championship has been moved to May 29 to 31 and June 5 to 7, but the schedule is still subject to changes depending on the development of the COVID-19 crisis.
