MANILA, Philippines – Thea Minor, a Fil-Am tennis player, had an early holiday celebration when she won three championship titles and three runner-up crowns in three separate junior tennis tournaments in New Zealand.
Minor, who was born and raised in Saipan in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), competed for the second straight year as a member of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Pacific Oceania Touring Team.
She was joined by fellow CNMI junior netters Rafael Jones and Christian Miller, and Pacific Oceania teammate Tarani Kamoe of Fiji.
Minor teamed up with Kamoe in the girls’ 14-and-under doubles to win three titles while also claiming second place honors in three singles events.
She began her New Zealand stint in the Coca-Cola Waikato Junior Open in Hamilton where she celebrated her 13th birthday last December 11 wining the 14-and-under doubles title with Kamoe.
The Minor-Kamoe tandem defeated Fiji’s Annie Shannon and hometown bet Toni Katipa in the girls’ 14-and-under doubles finals, 6-3, 6-1. Minor and Kamoe also entered the 16-and-under doubles finals but lost to the second seed pair of Kerry Hampton and Ellie Verran of New Zealand.
Minor, however, was not that lucky in the singles event where she lost in the quarterfinals of the 14- and 16-and-under divisions.
The Pacific Oceania Touring Team then headed to Gisborne, northeast of New Zealand’s capital of Wellington, for the second tournament which is the Poverty Bay East Coast Ray White Junior Championship where Minor once again teamed up with Kamoe to claim the 14-and-under doubles title.
Minor, however, was unlucky anew in the singles event, losing to Kamoe in the 14-and-under finals and in the consolation draw of the 16-and-under division.
She then capped her impressive stint in New Zealand with another doubles crown and a runner-up finish in the Auckland Christmas Tournament.
Her tested partnership with Kamoe earned the Pacific Oceania team a third doubles crown at the Scarbro Tennis Centre in Nicholson Park. Minor and Kamoe were unseeded in the tournament but scored a 6-1, 6-1 upset of the No.2 ranked pair of Georgina and Kirsty Hayr of Auckland.
Minor remained unlucky in the singles event suffering a 6-0, 6-0 defeat at the hands of top seed Louise Oxnevad of Queensland.
Aside from receiving certificates and medals, she also received a cash prize from Poverty Bay and Auckland tournaments..
The three tournaments attracted the best and upcoming junior players in the Pacific Oceania region, Australia and New Zealand where close to 600 participated.
Minor returns to Saipan to join her parents, Boyet and Joy, and sister Theecel for the Christmas holiday. Her father Boyet works as a civil engineer in an architectural firm since arriving in Saipan in the early 90s. GMANews.TV
