La Hunn wins consolation match in Australia

La Hunn Lam won his boys 14 consolation match in the 2024 Margaret Cup Boys Premier Series in Albury, New South Wales in Australia.

Lam defeated Jackson Roberts, 6-3, 6-0, last Wednesday to salvage a respectable finish in the tournament. Earlier, he got the better of Raice Gibbons, 6-2, 6-2, to advance to the consolation finals.

The 14-year-old started the tournament with a loss to No. 1 seed Junhyuk “Kevin” Seo of Guam, 5-7, 1-6. He, however, rebounded nicely with wins over Alborz Arabzadeh, 6-0, 6-2, and Thomas Gleeson, 6-3, 6-0.

In the Round of 16, Lam beat eighth seed Mitchell Westcott, 6-3, 6-4. He, however, succumbed to Kiran Myutel-Mansur, 2-6, 2-6, and thus came several wins short of a return engagement against Seo.

Yesterday, Lam teamed up with Ethan Wang to finish runner-up in the boys 14 doubles after losing to top seeds Christopher Sakal and Junhyuk Seo, 7-6, 7-5.

Lam and Wang debuted with a 6-4, 6-3 upset of third seeds Samuel Murree and Jackson Roberts. They followed that up with a 6-2, 6-1 victory in the quarterfinals over Smyan Hegde and Eamon Shiel.

In the semifinals, Lam and Wang kept the upset streak rolling by thumping second seeds Ethan Matthews and Oscar Turner, 6-2, 6-2, but saw their campaign end in the loss against Sakal and Seo.

Lam said he feels grateful for getting the chance to play in Australia against elite netters his age.

“I had to play three matches a day including doubles and it was pretty tough but it was a great experience. Specially the tournament was on the grass court which helped me a lot to learn how to play well on the grass.”

Lam left Saipan with CNMI national tennis coach Jeff Race last Jan. 1 for the 2024 Margaret Cup Boys Premier Series.

He won’t be back on Saipan soon as he’s seeing action in the 2024 Victorian Grasscourt Championship and will play in the boys 14 division of the Australian Open starting Jan. 22.

Lam has also been invited to train at Lavie Tennis Academy in New Zealand in February. He’s been picked to represent the CNMI in the Davis Cup with coach Colin Ramsey. “So, I will probably be back to Saipan on March,” he said.

Race said Lam showed his mettle in the Australia tournament and was probably one of the best boys 14 players in the event.

“He was unfortunately playing his teammate in the first round. A very good player, Kevin Seo from Guam. La Hunn was dominating in the first set, up 5-1 and a set point with Kevin serving at 30-40. Then there was a controversy on that point when La Hunn thought he had won the set. But the point was replayed and La Hunn lost the game and the momentum. Kevin started playing stronger and La Hunn never quite recovered mentally. Other than that, he has played really well in all his matches. When his forehand is zinging he’s tough to beat,” he said.

As for Race, the many time NMSA Coach of the Year and CNMI Sports Hall of Fame inductee finished second in the men’s open doubles of the Margaret Court Cup & Roche Series.

Partnering with Chris Lees, the eighth seeds dropped a painful 4-6, 6-7, 7-10 decision against top seeds Matthieu Gibert and Harrison Senior.

They advanced following a 4-6, 7-5, 10-7 comeback against Grove Bennett and Thomas Gleeson in the semifinals.

“I was having a great time in that quarterfinal and played really well. I had a great partner and we probably should have won but we probably should have lost the day before so I guess it kind of evened out,” said Race.