{"id":406507,"date":"2024-03-27T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-27T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=406507"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Lai-San-beats-Lam-in-men-s-open-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Lai-San-beats-Lam-in-men-s-open-finals\/","title":{"rendered":"Lai San beats Lam in men\u2019s open finals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Davis Cup campaigner and Tahiti national player Heimanarii Lai San won his very first championship in CNMI soil after defeating up-and-coming youngster La Hunn Lam in the finals of the 2024 Bridge Capital Tennis Classic men\u2019s open last Saturday at the American Memorial Park.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old former varsity tennis player of Division II Anderson University withstood Lam, 7-5, 4-2 (retired) after the latter rolled his ankle and wasn\u2019t able to continue.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying on Saipan is always very enjoyable for me. The tennis community has always been very welcoming and I have made so many good friends over the years I have been visiting,\u201d said Lai San.<\/p>\n

He also commended 14-year-old Lam for a very competitive finals until his unfortunate ankle accident.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that he has a lot of potential and I think that his mindset is in the right place. He is well surrounded and has everything that he needs to be successful. I wish him the very best and I am happy to help him whenever I am here on Saipan,\u201d said Lai San.<\/p>\n

Lam, for his part, said it was really unfortunate that he sustained an injury in the finals against Lai San.<\/p>\n

\u201cI popped my ankle which caused me severe pain in the second set of the match. I couldn’t stand up at that time. I had to retire. I wish I could have finished the finals.\u201d<\/p>\n

He went on to thank his finals opponent for taking him under his wing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was really lucky and thankful to be able to play against such an amazing player like Heima in the finals. I especially want to thank him that he plays practice matches with me whenever he visits Saipan. It really helped me to improve my game. I also like to say a big thank you to coach Jeff [Race], Bobby [Cruz], Colin [Ramsey], Tomas [Abel], the rest of the CNMI national team, and friends for all the support they have given me. I\u2019ll always appreciate it,\u201d Lam added.<\/p>\n

Lai San advanced to the finals following a tough 7-5, 6-4 win over to seed Ramsey. He debuted with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Henry Choi.<\/p>\n

Lam punched his ticket to the championship round after turning back No. 2 Abel, 6-2. 6-0. He opened the tourney with a roller-coaster 4-6, 6-0, 10-6 triumph over third seed David Kwon.<\/p>\n

In the men\u2019s singles 40, top seed Paul Jang upended Brian Wessel, 6-4, 7-5, in the finals. The former moved into the championship round with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Fayce El Karaa. Wessel barged into the finals after upsetting No. 2 John Bradley, 6-0, 7-5.<\/p>\n

In the men\u2019s doubles 40, Bong Gamab and Ed Javier edged Ken Imaya and Wessel via percentage points in the round-robin, 51.2%-50%. Gamab and Javier beat Imaya and Wessel, 6-3, 6-4, but lost to Jeff Race and Bradley, 3-6, 6-7 (4). Imaya and Wessel then took down Race and Bradley, 4-6, 7-5, 10-5.<\/p>\n

Results of the women\u2019s doubles, women\u2019s doubles 35, and women\u2019s singles 35 of the Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association-organized 2024 Bridge Capital Tennis Classic will be published in tomorrow\u2019s issue of Saipan Tribune.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Heimanarii Lai San, right, poses with La Hunn Lam before their men\u2019s open finals in the 2024 Bridge Capital Tennis Classic last Saturday at the American Memorial Park.<\/p>\n

-CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
\n
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Davis Cup campaigner and Tahiti national player Heimanarii Lai San won his very first championship…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-406507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406507\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}