Young netters shine in THTC

Young netters showed off their skills in the youth division on Week 1 of the TanHoldings Tennis Classic 2024 last weekend from last Friday to Sunday at the Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan and the American Memorial Park tennis courts.

There were only two doubles divisions and in the boys 14 age group, Guam’s lone contender, Eddie Calvo, paired up with the CNMI’s Matthew Hwang and bagged gold after their finals win over Cody Jin Ho Park and Ki Joon Park last Sunday.

Calvo and Hwang merged their skills together and almost blanked both Parks, 6-0, 6-1.

In the morning, Calvo competed in the boys 14 finals against singles No. 1 seed Hwang. In that battle, both netters put it all out on the court and went into three tough sets. As the sky gave way to some sprinkle of rain toward the end of their match, Hwang had the upper hand and won in extra points, 3-6, 6-4, 10-6.

In the semis, Hwang faced off against No. 4 Minjoon Michael Jeon and won, 7-5, 6-2.

As Hwang had the bye, he went straight to quarterfinals, he went up against Jun Lee and beat him, 6-0, 6-3.

Twelve-year-old Calvo said after his doubles division gold medal win, “It was great to see players from this year’s [North Pacific Regional Championships] and play against new ones too. I feel I played consistently in each match, and pushed my mental game to new limits. Matt is a strong competitor and an even better doubles mate.”

The Saipan team has improved since I [challenged] them in April and I look forward to playing against them in Guam for NPRC 2025. Thank you TanHoldings for hosting me in such a fun Tennis Classic!”

As for the boys 12 doubles division, Jason Choi and Seung Woo Lee outplayed Dong Min Jang and Seung Min Jang in three tough sets, 3-6, 6-0, 11-9.

In the girls 14 division, No. 2 seed Amy Eun Ho Park beat No. 1 seed Vivian Chung, 4-6, 6-4, 10-3.

Park took down Jenna Pascual in the semis, 6-1, 6-3. Pascual settled for third place after she beat Chlorie Lee, 8-7(5).

In the girls 10 division, No. 1 seed Fiona Yu took it all the way home after her finals win against No. 2 Aileen Yujung Kim, 6-2.

As Yu had the bye, she went straight to the semis and won, 6-4, over Lynore He.

Third place was Eva Shin who defeated He, 6-4.

In the boys 12 division, No. 1 seed Seung Woo Lee smacked his way past Seung Min Jang, 6-4, 6-1.

Before that, Lee blanked Jason Choi, 6-0, 6-0, and edged Dong Min Jang, 6-0, 6-3.

Evan Zhang settled for third place after he slipped past Jason Choi in three tough sets, 6-4, 4-6, 10-8.

Jeff Race, the tourney’s referee and CNMI tennis head coach, said of the event last Sunday, “We’ve had a little rain but we got through the matches. Lydia [Tan] had done a great job of running the tournament. There’ve been a lot of really good matches; a lot of the kids haven’t played in a tournament for a few months so they kind of just have to get back into it, but we’re all having fun.”

Week 2 of the tournament will feature adult divisions next Friday, Nov. 8, to Sunday, Nov. 10.

Race added that some of the youth netters are competing in the adult division. “Every year, we encourage them to play. They do very well.”

Sponsors of the event are ASC Trust, Mobil, D&Q Distributors, Quality Distributors, Tan Siu Lin Foundation, Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan, National Park Service, AMS, iShop, Century Insurance, CTSI Logistics, TakeCare, and TBC.

The TanHoldings Tennis Classic 2024 had a year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic and made a return in 2021.