North Pacific qualifier gets off to a rainy start

Overcast skies did little to dampen the start of the North Pacific Qualifying Tennis Tournament yesterday morning at the American Memorial Park tennis courts.

Buoyed by the home crowd, Team CNMI got off to a great start in the boys 18-and-under – with three of its five players winning in their debuts.

CNMI No. 1 Jung Mun Chung hardly broke into a sweat in blanking FSM’s Tyrone Welley, 6-0, 6-0.

Top-rated Tim Quan, who is studying high school in Hawaii, was also impressive in his first round assignment hacking out a 6-1, 6-1 win over Welley’s countryman Midion Neth.

Vastly improved Nicolas Son also did quick work of his match-up with Ryan Yamada, also of FSM, advancing with a 6-2, 6-1 victory.

Johnny Johnson was the lone casualty of the group after the former soccer MVP was drubbed by boys 18-and-under defending champion Adam Rudolph of Guam.

The fifth player, Ralph Buenaventura, was playing Neth as of press time and was ahead by a set.

Guam’s Dean Dedicatoria also got the better of countryman Nikhil Singh in the only other game in the division as of press time, 6-2, 6-2.

The Heo sisters in the girls 18-and-under weren’t as fortunate as the CNMI boys as powerhouse Guam and dark horse Palau shut them out.

Na-Hee Heo succumbed to defending champion Michelle Pang of Guam, 6-0, 6-0, while Na-Sil fought hard before falling 7-6, 6-1 against last year’s runner-up Kelsey Isechal of Palau.

Coach Jeff Race’s wards got mixed results in both the boys and girls 14-and-under.

Russell Buenaventura ran roughshod over Palau’s Mark Alex, 6-2, 6-2, but that’s about the only good news in the boys 14-and-under as Benjie Decena and Dillon Thorpe dropped their opening games against more experienced players.

Tinian-based Decena was beaten by Dayn Iehsi of FSM, 6-2, 6-4, while Thorpe dropped a 1-6, 0-6 decision against Lloyd Yamada also of FSM.

Over in the girls, last year’s runner-up Mayuko Arriola and Kanani Ashraf held serve. Arriola beat stablemate Audrey Motto, 6-0, 6-2, while Ashraf took out Jackson Alona of FSM, 6-0, 6-1.

Motto earlier lost to Guam’s Ayuri Sugahara, 6-4, 6-2. The only other available results in the girls 14-and-under saw Lolyn Neth triumph against Megan Helgenberger, 7-5, 6-0. Both players hail from the FSM.

The NPQ tourney began with a short opening ceremony in the morning graced by no less than Gov. Juan N. Babauta, Saipan Mayor Juan B. Tudela, and Department of Community and Cultural Affairs Secretary Juan L. Babauta.

A few moments after the ceremony wrapped up, the first raindrops fell and after about 30 minutes the downpour had rendered the courts unplayable. After a two-hour delay, action was resumed proving once more that a little rain couldn’t stop kids from having fun.