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Heo wins first game in New Zealand
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Posted on Jan 27 2009
CNMI junior tennis player Ji Hoon Heo won his first game in New Zealand topping a player from Auckland in the qualifying round for the 2009 Canterbury Championships in Wilding Park, Canterbury.
Heo defeated Chester Espie in straight sets, 6-0, 6-1, before bowing to Ari Davis in the quarterfinals in three hard fought sets.
The CNMI bet stunned Davis in the first set, 6-4, before the Kiwi netter recovered in the next two sets, 6-4, 6-0, to pull off the win.
Despite a quarterfinals loss, Heo made it to the main draw of the men’s open singles division of the Canterbury tournament.
In the main draw, the 15-year-old Heo got a bye in the first round before being paired against Sean Berman in the Round of 16. Berman won, 6-2, 6-3, sending Heo to the consolation draw.
In the consolation draw, Heo met Espie anew, and this time the Auckland bet prevailed, 6-4, 6-2.
The top-seeded Dan King-Turner won the tournament after beating the second-ranked Ged Jones in the finals, 7-5, 6-3.
Heo was only the third player from the Pacific Oceania Touring Team to play in Canterbury tournament this year. The two others were William O’Connell lof Fiji and Papua New Guinea’s Marcia Tere-Apisah
Tere-Apisah also won her first match in the women’s singles qualifier, before losing her second game and first match in the main draw.
O’Connell was entered in the qualifying round and failed to make the main draw when he bowed to Michael Saunders in the first round, 2-6, 1-6.
It was Heo’s second tour of duty for the Pacific Oceania squad, but it was his first time to compete in New Zealand, as last season the trip was only for three tournaments in Australia.
Beside the tournament in Canterbury, Heo and his teammates are also set to compete in Wellington and Auckland.
Heo hopes to get Junior ITF ranking points from the three tournaments in New Zealand. The lone NMI player to receive ITF Junior ranking is currently at No. 1,226 in the world.
The CNMI bet left Saipan for tournaments in Australia and New Zealand in the first week of January and will not be back until Feb. 16. He is set to leave New Zealand on Feb. 14 after the Wellington International Junior Championships.
