Simon, Nason bag U18, U16 titles

Simon Tang and Nason Wessel reigned supreme in the 2024 SIS Student Council Tennis Tournament that was held from last Friday to Monday at the American Memorial Park tennis courts.

Since there were only four players in the boys U18 division, No. 2 seed Tang claimed the title after going undefeated in the tourney when he won all his matches. He played against No. 1 seed Cody Shimizu, Wessel, and Siwoo Lee.

In Tang’s last match, he defeated Lee, 6-1, 6-4. Tang’s first match was a tough one against Wessel, and won by the skin of his teeth, 7-6, 3-6, 11-9. In a No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown against Shimizu, Tang had the upper hand and overpowered him, 6-4, 6-2.

With his undefeated tourney, Tang said, “I feel pretty great!” Joining two divisions, the U16 and U18, Tang said competition in both is “very similar with not a wide range of variety on Saipan. Even with little variety, the tennis players here are still very skilled and competitive tennis players.”

He said the hardest matches he played was against Wessel, who competed in the 2023 Pacific Games. Tang said, it’s “definitely high-quality matches whenever I play him. I believe that our matches were especially hard because both of us have been constantly training together which developed our skills drastically.”

The 16-year-old junior at Saipan Southern High School has been practicing multiple hours—at least five days a week to get into shape. He said he looks forward to international competitions, but said, “I know that it will take a lot hard work to get to where I want to.”

For the boys U16 division, Wessel won against Tang, 6-0, 6-2, in the finals to claim the championship.

Wessel faced Pacific Games doubles partner, June Yu, in the semis and blanked him, 6-0, 6-0.

The U14 boys winner was No. 1 seed Ian Chae, as he went undefeated in the four-player round-robin format. Chae first defeated No. 2 Matthew Hwang, 6-2, 7-5; then shut down Jihun Park, 6-2, 6-0; and capped it off with an easy win against Colten Wallace, 6-0, 6-0.

Results of the U14/U16/U12 girls divisions will be posted in the next issues of Saipan Tribune.

The U12 boys finals is rescheduled to Saturday, Jan. 20, and the girls U18 finals was rained out and is rescheduled to this Sunday, Jan. 21 at 2pm.

For more information on the 2024 SIS Student Council Tennis Tournament, call (670) 788-7400 or (670) 989-0080.

The Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association is coordinating the tourney.