Youthful Lee rallies to take girls 18 tiara

Anne Lee dropped the first set before storming back to win the final two to beat defending champion Hoo Wang in the girls 18 championship of the 12th TanHoldings Tennis Classic last Sunday at the Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan tennis courts.

Wang started like a house on fire and took the first set, 6-3, against Lee who is three years her junior. An umpire was then called to officiate the match in the second set as both players were contesting outside calls.

Lee appeared to benefit from that as she leveled the count at a set apiece following a methodical 6-3 win against 15-year-old Wang to force a tiebreaking third set.

In the race-to-10, the 12-year-old from Saipan International School pulled out all the stops to take the hotly contested finals, 10-7.

Lee said losing the opening set easily would’ve put her in panic mode, but fortunately she settled herself down and proceeded to play her A-game.

“I think the most important part is about mental strength. When I lost to Hoo in the first set, I thought to myself, ‘I can’t lose like this’ and I stepped up more to get my mental strength all together again. I mostly dedicate this win to my parents that have supported me and to my older sister, Carol Lee,” she said.

Lee advanced to the girls 18 finals after beating Irin Chung in the semifinals, 6-0, 5-7, 10-5. As the top seed, she got a bye in the opening round.

Wang, meanwhile, also had a bye in the opening round before outlasting Serin Chung, 2-6, 6-3, 10-4, to set up the showdown against Lee in the finals.

“I could have beat her easily but because of my sickness from the flu, it pulled me down from being the champion. Next time I’ll defeat her easily in our upcoming tournament. Hope her bad calls get fixed by then,” said Wang when asked to comment on the finals.

Lee, meanwhile, took Wang’s comments in stride, saying “I do not know why, but she seems always wants to have an umpire every match [we play]. I do not really care if Hoo calls an umpire or not. But that would be more helpful to me… Hoo, you did good and well. I hope I can compete with you next time.”

When Wang was asked what was her biggest takeaway from the girls 18 finals, the SIS student said it’s to better take care of her body.

“My biggest lesson is to manage and control my conditions so I don’t get sick again.”

In the girls 16, top seed Stella Choi defeated unranked Emma Degawa Lang for all the marbles, 6-1, 6-2.

Choi made it to the final round following a 6-4, 6-0 win over Eunho Park, while Lang beat second seed Vivian Chung, 6-2, 6-2, and Olivia Zhang, 6-0, 6-0, in a more circuitous route to the championship match.

Fiona Yu, meanwhile, went 2-0 in the compass draw girls 10 to win her division. She beat Aileen Kim (6-2) and Mary Woo (6-3).

In a two-horse race, girls 16 finalists Choi and Lang conspired to turn back the challenge of Vivian Chung and Jenna Pascual, 3-6, 6-7(2), to top the division.

Results of the boys division will be published in tomorrow’s issue of Saipan Tribune.

The 12th TanHoldings Classic would like to thank the following sponsors of the tournament: Grand Slam Sponsors Quality Distributor of Guam, Mobil Oil Marianas, ASC Trust, and TSL Foundation; Match Point Sponsors IT&E, D&Q, and Shirley’s Guam, Ace Sponsors Alliance Metal Specialties and IShop; Advantage Sponsors Take Care and Tsang Brothers, and in-kind sponsors McDonalds Saipan and Guam, All-Star dba Boarderline Athlete’s Foot, and Marpac.