Pat O’ Rourke, the Referee for the first ever ITF World Junior circuit tournament to be held at the Hilton Tennis Courts in Guam writes that ” Players representing more than 10 Nations competed in this event starting on the 12th May in hot and humid conditions. Friday 16th May was Doubles finals day.
The girls doubles was an all Japan affair with third seeds Satoko Suena and Yukiho Uragami taking on surprise finalists Mai Hontama and Nagomi Higashitani. Suena and Uragami dominated throughout to win 6-3 6-4 and claim their first ITF Junior title together.
The boys final was a thriller. Australian youngsters Kody Pearson and Benard Nkomba seeded 2, got off flying start claiming the first set 6-3 againt the more experienced top seeded pair of Chak Yin Chan (HKG) and Jack Barber (USA). The top seeds then got into their stride dominating at the net claiming the second set 6-2 to force the match to a deciding super tiebreak. The breaker was very even until the pairs changed ends at 6 all when Chan and Barber got on a run claiming four points in a row to take the match.
L to R: Winners Chak Yin Chan(HKG) and Jack Barber (USA); Tournament Director Torgun Smith and Runners-Up Cody Pearson and Bernard Nkomba (AUS)
The following day Jack Barber (USA)continued on his winning way from the doubles defeating the 7th seed Leo Vithoontien (THA) convincingly 63,64
Jack Barber(right);Leo Vithoontien(centre) with tournament sponsor
In the Girls Singles final the match between Mai Hontama(JPN) and Yinglak Jittakoat (THA) was close in the first two sets with the 3rd set deciding the match. Unfortunately Yinglak Jittakoat had to retire midway through the final set for Mai Hontama coming back from a set down to eventually win 46,6-3,4-1Retired
Girls singles winner Mai Hontama centre and runner up, Yinglat Jittakoat left with sponsor