June wins boys 16 championship

June Yu made use of the experience he gained from competition in the previous months’ Pacific Games and Junior Davis Cup to win the boys 16 title of last weekend’s 2024 Bridge Capital Tennis Classic at the American Memorial Park.

The 16-year-old Mt. Carmel School student hacked out a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Siwoo Lee in the finals to complete the upset of the division’s top seed. Yu entered the competition as the second seed.

“I felt happy when I beat the first seed. My strategy was to make the ball more in and to not try to get angry,” he said.

Yu said after a nip-and-tick opening set, he finally was able to get some separation against Lee and that led to the straight-set win.

“It was kind of hard in the first set but the in the second set I got used to the play style and started playing aggressively also,” he said.

In a way, Yu admitted that the high level of play in the Solomon Islands, where the 2023 Pacific Games was held; and the Junior Davis Cup in Sri Lanka helped him in his finals match last Sunday.

“I think the experience from the Pacific Games and the Junior Davis Cup helped me a lot.”

Yu advanced to the finals against Lee after disposing of Anne Lee, 6-1, 6-0. Siwoo Lee, meanwhile, booked the championship round ticket following a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Hoo Wang.

In the boys 14, Jihun Park made a triumphant return to tennis by going 3-0 in the round-robin to earn the title. He first beat No. 1 seed Ian Chae, 4-4 (retired), before toppling second seed Matthew Hwang, 6-3, 7-5. He then completed his undefeated run in the tourney with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Cody Park.

Top seed Cody Park, meanwhile, ruled the boys 14 after defeating second seed Micheal Jeon, 6-4, 6-0. Park advanced to the finals with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Matthew Zhu, while Jeon escaped Daniel Kang, 4-6, 6-3, 10-5.

In the 18 mixed doubles, La Hun Lam and Irin Chung dominated the division after a 2-0 record. They first took out Yu and Lina Tsukagoshi, 6-2, 6-1, before taking the championship with a 6-1, 6-0 triumph over Simon Tang and Serin Chung.

Results of the girls division and the mixed doubles 12 will be published in tomorrow’s issue of Saipan Tribune.

The Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association organizes the 2024 Bridge Capital Tennis Classic.