PO‘IPU — Kaua‘i tennis players upset seeded players to take their respective share of the Kaua‘i Fall Junior Open tennis tournament at the Po‘ipu Kai tennis courts Sunday. Sarah Kukino, a member of the Kaua‘i High School girls tennis courts,
PO‘IPU — Kaua‘i tennis players upset seeded players to take their respective share of the Kaua‘i Fall Junior Open tennis tournament at the Po‘ipu Kai tennis courts Sunday.
Sarah Kukino, a member of the Kaua‘i High School girls tennis courts, overcame bouts with cramping, Saturday to advance over Kendall Tada, 6-0, 6-2.
That put her into the finals with top-seeded Kelly Domingo, a 7-5, 6-4 winner over Ceara Sumida in the semis, Sumida advancing to the semis with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Kaila Nip.
In the finals, Kukino defeated Domingo 6-3, 6-0 for the title in the Girls 18 Singles.
Unseeded Chas Okamoto, a member of the Kapa‘a High School boys tennis team, advanced through the quarterfinals of the Boys 18 Singles by defeating fourth seed Kallen Mizuguchi, 6-4, 6-4 in a physical match made more grueling by the broiling Po‘ipu sun.
Okamoto advanced from the opening round with a 6-2, 6-2 win over James River to meet Mizuguchi, getting a bye on the opening round.
Second seed Nick Hoyle fell to Marco Kobayashi in the quarterfinals, 1-6, 6-3 before Kobayashi defeated Okamoto in the semifinals. Kobayashi went on to take the division title with a 6-3, 6-2 win over top seeded Robin Kiyabu who advanced from the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Kento Tanaka-Tamaki.
Kaua‘i’s Noah Schmidt downed Christian Schmidt, 6-4, 6-4 to wrap up the Boys 10 Singles division. Noah advanced to the finals by getting past another Kaua‘i player, Koa Cierras, 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-0, while Christian advanced after getting past Kevin Zheng, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (2), 6-3.
Sean Kondo, a 6-2, 6-0 winner over Samuel Bradley in the semis, earned the win in the Boys 12 Singles division with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Rohan Watamull who advanced to the finals with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Evan Zheng.
Kaua‘i’s Matthew Kanna got an opening round win over Dylan Shen, 6-3, 6-1 before falling to Jon Costales, 3-6, 1-6 in the semis of the Boys 14 Singles action. Costales, third seeded in that division, went on to take the class with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Travis Lau.
Matthew Kanna also dropped to Brandon Chin, 1-6, 1-6 in the quarterfinals of the Boys 16 Singles. Chin fell to Shermann Alconcel 2-6, 5-7 in the final round of that class.
Kaua‘i’s Tarryn Orial dropped her opening round to Nanea Perkins, 4-6, 3-6 in the Girls 12 Singles division that was settled when top seeded Skyla Alcon got past second seed Taylor Lau, 6-2, 6-3.
Lani Rae Green of Kaua‘i put up a strong fight in the opening round of the Girls 14 Singles and edged out Brooke Alcuran, 6-0, 6-7(5), 6-2 before falling to second seeded Ashley Ishimura, 2-6, 3-6 in the semis of that division.
Ishimura went on to take the division with a 7-6(3), 6-1 win over top seeded Alyssa Tobita.
Kaua‘i’s Shaylee Orial fell to Kelsey-Anne Yamanaka, 6-4, 2-6, 1-6 in the opening round of the Girls 16 Singles. Yamanaka fell to second seeded Katie Kim, 1-6, 0-6 in the semifinals of that division that was won by top seeded Karlene Pang who defeated Kim, 7-5, 6-2 for the title.
The team of Kelly Costello and Sean Kondo defeated the team of Nanea Perkins and Roban Watamull, 6-3, 4-6, 10-5 for the title in the Mixed 12 Doubles division.
Kaua‘i’s Lani Rae Green teamed with Isaiah Brilhante to advance tp the quarterfinals by defeating the team of Suzanna and Samuel Bradley, 7-5, 6-4.
But the duo in the Mixed 14 Doubles class fell to the team of Ashley Ishimura and Kawika Lam, 2-6, 6-3 in the quarterfinals. The division was won by the top seeded team of Zander Kim and Alyssa Tobita that downed the Ishimura-Lam team, 6-1, 4-1 (ret).
Kaua‘i’s Shaylee Orial teamed with Shermann Alconcel that fell to the team of James Rivers and Tara Watamull, 3-6, 2-6 in the finals of the Mixed 16 Doubles.
Sarah Kukino teamed with Kallen Mizuguchi for the second seed in the Mixed 18 Doubles class. Kukino and Mizuguchi advanced by defeating the team of Mitchell Miyashiro and Kaila Nip, 6-0, 6-2 to meet another Kaua‘i player, Dylan Wehrly who teamed with Kelly Domingo, a winner over the team of Kendall and Daniel Tada, 7-5, 6-4.
The Kukino/Mizuguchi team advanced through the semifinals by defeating the Domingo-Wehrly team, 6-3, 6-3, before falling to the duo of Marco Kobayashi and Ceara Sumida, 2-6, 1-6.
The top seeded pair of Robin Kiyabu and Karlene Pang fell in the semis to Kobayashi-Sumida team, 4-6, 5-7.
•Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com
