Jr. netters win singles crown

Thea Minor led three other junior netters who won singles titles in the first half of competitions in the 2008 Pacific Islands Club-Gatorade Tennis Championships held last weekend at the PIC courts in San Antonio.

Minor breezed past her opponents in the single round-robin format in the women’s open, beating Matty Buenaventura and Jodel Fernandez without dropping a set.

Christian Miller duplicated the feat in the boys’ 13-and-under division when he scored a hard-earned 5-7, 6-1, 7-5 win over Rafael Jones, while Chris Cajigan remained the top 9-and-under player after winning his second title for the year with a 6-1 decision over Colin Ramsey.

This was Cajigan and Ramsey’s second straight finals match-up and the former is 2-0 against his opponent this season after beating Ramsey in the finals of last month’s Coconut Classic Tennis Tournament.

Emily Jones won her first title of the season after consecutive wins over Sakura Imaya, 6-3, and Coconut Classic champion Tammy Ackerman, 6-2.

Lope Padilla won the men’s 4.0 division crown after a 6-2, 7-5 win over Nanding Cajigan, while Dodong Salinas ruled the men’s 3.0 division after winning by walkover against Manny Jardinero, who failed to show up in the finals.

Other winners in the singles division were Minor’s older sister Theecel, who scored a 6-2, 6-0 triumph over eight-year-old Neghar Rastguiy in the girls’ 13-and-under; Matty Buenaventura in the women’s 4.0 after a 6-2, 6-1 victory against Lydia Tan.

Ji Hoon Heo, who will leave for South Korea today to join two International Tennis Federation junior events, completed his title defense in the men’s open with a clinical 6-3, 6-3 drubbing of Peter Loyola.

Heo will join the Lee Duk Hee Korean International Junior Championships and the Jeju International Junior Championships. Both events are ITF Junior tournaments that could earn him the needed points to barge in the world junior rankings.

The PIC Gatorade championship continues this weekend from April 4 to 6 with games in the men’s, women’s, and mixed doubles events.

The men’s doubles will have matches offered in the Open, 4.0, and 3.0 division, while the women’s will have the open and 3.0 titles at stake. The mixed doubles will offer the open and 4.0 crowns.

Cash prizes are also guaranteed in the winners and finalists of the men’s, women’s, and mixed doubles events while other winners and finalists in the other categories will receive prizes donated by various sponsors of the six-day, two-weekend tournament.

PIC, Pacific Trading Co., Stay Well Insurance, and Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino are some of the sponsors of the tournament.

For more information about the 2008 Pacific Islands Club-Gatorade Tennis Championships, call John Waechter or Sergei Bargamotov at PIC at 235-6231 ext 5147 or email at sportsmanager@picsaipan.com or seasent@picsaipan.com.