THE local players bowed out of the main draw at the South Pacific Junior Championship underway at the Regional Tennis Complex in Lautoka.
Pacific Games squad member Ruby Coffin faced a tough opponent in Manami Ukita from Japan losing in straight sets 6-3, 6-3 in the opening round of the girl’s doubles.
The match lasted one hour and 56 minutes with Coffin putting on a good show.
Natabua High School Year 11 student Vienna Kumar Fong, who was on a bye in the first round, went down to 11th seeded Rina Saigo of Japan 6-0, 6-1.
The top seeds Michaela Haet of Australia and Ayumi Miyamoto of Japan breezed through their elimination round matches to reach the quarter-finals.
Tournament referee Patrick O’Rourke said the standard of tennis was very high.
He said players from Asia dominated the boy’s and girl’s singles categories reaching the final 16 playoffs.
“The number two seed in the girl’s singles Miyamoto is a star of the future,” O’Rourke said.
“She will turn 14 years old in December and is the number one player in Japan’s under-16 Fed Cup team.
“Here she is playing in the U18 category and has beaten girls older than her.
The quarter-finals will be played this morning.
Results:
Michaela Haet bt Hei Ching Claidia Ng 6-1, 6-2; Funa Kozaki bt Catherine Xu 6-1, 6-2; Rika Tanaka bt Janvhi Clark 6-3, 6-1; Sara Tsukamoto bt Honoka Nakanishi 7-5, 6-1, Mimi Levine bt Akane Koisumi 6-1, 6-0, Ayumi Miyamoto bt Ayana Rengii 6-0, 6-1.
