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NMI victorious in Guam’s junior tennis competition
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Posted on Mar 14 2001
CNMI’s junior tennis players traveled over the weekend to Guam’s biggest annual tournament, wining three of the six championships in the Chamorro Open junior division’s, while gaining the final in a fourth.
Fifteen kids traveling to Guam for the annual competition were the largest contingent of CNMI juniors ever to compete in an off-island tennis event.
The CNMI won both Girl’s and Boy’s 12 & Under Singles events as eleven-year-old Keith Gabaldon defeated Nikhil Singh 6/4, 6/4. Gabaldon had earlier in the day defeated top seeded Shintaro Masuno 2/6, 6/2, 6/4 in the semi-final round.
Another eleven-year-old from Saipan, Mayuko Arriola, gained the final round with a 6/3, 4/6, 6/0 victory over Guam’s Rika Sano. She then took on Meiko Masuno in the finals, winning 6/2, 6/4. It was Arriola’s second consecutive tournament win in under a month, having recently won the Coconut Classic Girl’s 14 & Under event in February.
In the Boy’s 18 & Under, Saipan’s Daniel Son took on three of Guam’s top player’s in succession. Son’s first beat Chris Kang, who succumbed to a Son’s dangerous forehand 6/3, 7/6. Son then faced left-hander Adam Rudolph, winning 7/5, 7/5 before meeting #1 seeded Greg May in the finals.
May proved to be Son’s toughest opponent, winning the first set in a tie breaker 8-6. Son, however, got off to a quick start in the second set, extending his lead to 3-0 before taking the set 6-2.
In danger of missing the flight home, tournament officials agreed at the request of coach Jeff Race to play a tie breaker to decide the match, rather than a third set. Son then jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the tie breaker, winning 7-1 to take the title.
In the Boy’s 14 & Under, Guam and Saipan’s #1 player’s faced off for the trophy, with Saipan’s Jung Mun Chung pitting his consistency and hustle against the power game of Guam’s Ryan Salecina. Salecina proved to be at the top of his game against Chung, winning 6/1, 6/2.
Other competitors on the CNMI squad included Jose Quan, Mitchell Sinclair, Gaku Matsumura, Noelle Calvo, Ralph Buenaventura, Thomas Guerrero, Tim Quan, Devin Yoshimoto, Gerald Boyer, Kana Aikawa and Jill Pierce.
