Champions crowned in UMDA tennis

The American Memorial Park tennis courts were dry for most parts yesterday, and a bunch of youth netters took advantage, completing all but one match in the 2005 UMDA-CNMI Junior Tennis Championship.

Fighting his way to the top of the line was 2005 South Pacific Mini Games-bound Ralph Buenaventura, who also served as the tournament director.

Buenaventura cruised past the semifinals of the boys’ 18-and-under division with a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Ji Hoon Heo, setting up a battle against defending champion Nicolas Son, who earned a return to the final with a walkover win over Jung Mun Chung, who sustained an injury in his quarterfinal win against Johnny Johnson, 6-1, 6-1.

Buenaventura quickly seized control of the match, taking the first three games of the first set. Son inched to 2-3 and 3-4 before Buenaventura closed the set by taking the next two games, 6-3.

Buenaventura continued to have his way on the court, going up 4-0 to open the second set. Son, however, refused to give in easily and took the next game, 1-4, but Buenaventura came right back to move within a game of the championship, 5-1.

Fatigue from playing games earlier in the day and serving as the tournament director began to take its toll and Buenaventura began cramping midway through the set’s seventh game. After a brief break, Buena-ventura came back strong and closed the match, 6-1.

“I did pretty good in the tournament over this weekend,” Buenaventura said. “It’s very hard for me to play and direct the tournament, but overall it was a good tournament and I did my best. It was pretty fun.”

The rising star said he was lucky to have experienced the cramps while holding a good lead.

“I had an earlier match [against Heo] which was very difficult for me, and I was wearing down during that match, and then this one, and my legs just didn’t go on,” he said. “[But] I was lucky to get the early lead so I could finish the tournament. Maybe if I was behind I would’nt have finished, but it was okay.”

For her part, Mayuko Arriola repeated as the girls’ 18-and-under champion. Being the only competitor registering in the division, Arriola crossed over to the boys’ corner and made it to the quarterfinals after beating Ho Suk 6-0, 6-2. She faltered to Son in the quarterfinals, 3-6, 3-6.

Arriola also teamed up with Johnson to take the boys’ 18-and-under doubles. The two rallied from an early deficit to beat Ji Hoon Heo and Nate Algaier 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Lila Mailman took top honors in the girls’ 14-and-under singles, beating Audrey Motto in the semifinals 6-2, 6-2 before turning back Vivian Lee 6-3, 6-1 in the finals. Lee had earlier advanced to another final appearance with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Jessica Soll.

Joe Motto Jr. topped the boys’ 10-and-under singles with a 6-1 win over Rafael Jones. Motto advanced by posting a 6-0 win over Brian Mailman, while Jones defeated Angelo Jones 6-2 in the semis.

The girls corner was won by Thea Minor, who battled a tough Melody Johnson before taking the crown, 6-4. Minor earlier defeated sister Theecel, 6-1, while Johnson had her way against Michaela Grandinetti, 6-2 to advance to the final.

Other doubles action included Russell Buenaventura and Calvin Yang taking home the boys’ 14-and-under crown with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 win over Henry Yang and Phillip Park.

The dynamic duo of Cody Race and Christian Miller was too much to handle in the boys’ 10-and-under as they edged Crosby Schultz and Edward Coad, 6-4, for the title.

Capping the doubles champions list were Lee and Audrey Motto, who cruised to a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Soll and Lila Mailman in the girls 14-and-under category.

Meanwhile, the boys’ 14-and-under singles title has yet to be claimed as the finals between Russell Buenaventura and Calvin Yang was rescheduled. Buenaventura earned his ticket with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Henry Yang, while Calvin Yang beat Dominic von Siebenthal, 8-5.