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Thursday, May 22, 2025 7:16:57 AM

Heo leaves for Australia

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Posted on Jan 04 2009
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Ji Hoon Heo left Saipan for Australia yesterday and will play his first game in the 2009 Post Margaret Court Cup on Thursday at the Albury Grasscourts in Albury, New South Wales.

The CNMI netter, who is now ranked No. 1226 in the Junior ITF rankings moving up 400 notches higher with former ranked players going over the age limit (18 years old), is entered in the boys’ 16 singles and doubles division of the Margaret Court Cup.

Margaret Court Cup is named after the retired former world No. 1 tennis player from Australia—Margaret Jean Court. In 1970, she became the first woman during the open era and the second woman ever to win all four Grand Slam singles titles in the same calendar year.

The Cup will run from Jan. 7 to 12 with the opening day set for a team tournament.

Heo’s opening match in the boys’ 16-and-under singles will be against 15-year-old Joshua Verity of Thurgoona, NSW.

In the doubles event, Heo will team up with fellow ITF Pacific Oceania bet and Fiji’s William O’Connell. The duo will collide with Michael Galante and Matt Thompson of Albany, Wodonga in the opening match.

From Albury, Heo and the rest of the ITF Pacific Oceania Touring Team will head to Wodonga for another tournament (Jan. 13 to 17). On Jan. 18, the group will travel to Melbourne to see a couple of matches in the Australian Open.

From Melbourne, Heo will go to Christchurch, New Zealand to train and prepare for tournaments in Canterbury, Auckland, and Wellington.

In New Zealand, Heo will have a chance to earn ranking points, but he still needs to win in qualifying tournaments before moving up to the main draws. He will stay in New Zealand from Jan. 21 to Feb. 14.

The CNMI netter was invited to compete in tournaments in Australia and New Zealand after placing second in the boys’ 18-and-under division of the 2008 Pacific Oceania Junior Championships in Fiji.

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