PO‘IPU — Kaua‘i tennis players Chas Okamoto and Sarah Kukino teamed to take the Mixed 18 Doubles at the Kaua‘i Fall Junior Open tennis tournament Sunday at the Po‘ipu Kai tennis courts. But the win did not come easy as
PO‘IPU — Kaua‘i tennis players Chas Okamoto and Sarah Kukino teamed to take the Mixed 18 Doubles at the Kaua‘i Fall Junior Open tennis tournament Sunday at the Po‘ipu Kai tennis courts.
But the win did not come easy as the Okamoto/Kukino duo, top seeded in the Mixed 18 Doubles, topped the pair of Madison Duarte and Robin Kiyabu 6-2, 6-3, which belied the fact that Okamoto, second-seeded in the Boys 18 Singles, had withdrawn from that draw due to an injury.
Kukino, recently getting top player accolades, had no problem in the Girls 18 Singles, handily defeating Sarah Steele 6-4, 6-4 for the title.
Okamoto’s withdrawl in the quarterfinals of the Boys 18 Singles gave the match to Henry Conner Yim, who fell to Kento Tanaka Tamaki in the semifinals 6-2, 6-4. Tamaki came up from the quarters with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Mitchell Miyashiro.
That set up the showdown between Tamaki, unseeded in the tournament, and top-seeded Robin Kiyabu, who advanced over Seth McCormack 6-1, 6-0, and James Rivers 6-0, 6-2.
With both boys battling in the noonday heat of Po‘ipu, Tamaki prevailed 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 over the top seed.
More upsets filled the air as unseeded Alyssa Tobita topped top-seeded Julia Weisel, 7-6(3) 6-1 in the finals of the Girls 16 Singles.
Earlier, Tobita advanced over Scout Shutter 6-3, 6-4 and upset third-seeded Kristen Poei 6-4, 6-1 to advance to the semifinals, where she took three sets to advance past Cori Cummings 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 to meet Weisel.
Weisel advanced to the semis with an easy 6-0, 6-0 win over Kylie Kam and moved on with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Dani Young to face Tobita.
Kaua‘i’s own Lani Rae Green, second-seed in the Girls 14 Singles, upset top-seeded Ashley Ishimura 6-3, 7-6(3) for top honors in that division. Green advanced to the finals by besting Rebecca Yim 6-2, 6-3, and Ishimura advancing with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Skyla Alcon.
Top seeded Taylor Lau topped Sara Tsukamoto, a winner in the Mixed 12 Doubles, 6-2, 6-0 for top honors in the Girls 12 Singles.
Tsukamoto teamed with Andrew Yip for top seed in the Mixed 12 Doubles and earned the Aflac duck for top honors by getting past the duo of Tyler Ikehara and Kylee Kato 6-3, 6-0.
Kelly Costello teamed with Sean Kondo to take the team of Ryan Chang and Jaye-Lyn Orikasa 7-6(1), 6-1 for top honors in the Mixed 14 Doubles.
Tobita, who earlier upset top-seeded Weisel, picked up her second upset of the tournament when she teamed with Zander Kim for second seed honors in the Mixed 16 Doubles.
The Kim/Tobita duo advanced past third seed Alcon/Jacob Blaisdell 6-0, 6-4 in the semifinals to meet the team of Daisuke Nakayama and Poei, unseeded in the draw, and who pulled an upset on the top-seeded pair of Alec Wagner and Weisel 6-3, 6-7(5), 10-8 in the quarterfinals to advance.
Nakayama/Poei prevailed 6-1, 6-4 against the fourth seeded pair of Cummings and Issei Funatsu to meet Kim and Tobita for the finals where Kim and Tobita were successful, 6-3, 6-3.
Wagner, top seeded in the Boys 16 Singles, successfully defended his seed with a hard-fought battle against second seeded Spencer Travallino 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 andbested Blaisdell 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 and Zander Kim 6-4, 6-2 before meeting Travallino in the finals.
Travallino, the second seed, advanced with wins over Grant Zukeran 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 and Nakayama 7-5, 6-3 to meet Wagner.
Second-seeded Kawika Lam topped top-seeded Gregory Zukeran 7-5, 6-4 for top honors in the Boys 14 Singles draw and top seeded Sean Kondo got past second seeded Jace Akagi-Okuma 6-2, 6-0 for top honors in the Boys 12 Singles draw, one of the larger fields with 10 players starting the Round of 16.
The tournament was coordinated locally by Carolyn Lum.
Visit tennislink.usta.com for full results of the two-day tournament.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com.
