Emily Soares of Hilo upset top-seeded Lexi Milunovich on Sunday to advance to the Girls’ 18 singles final of the United States Tennis Association National Selection Tournament at Central Oahu Regional Park.
Soares, the third seed in the Girls’ 18 draw, reached the semifinal round with a 6-2 ,6-3 win over Katie Chang of Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. She then faced Milunovich, the 36th-ranked player in the nation, and pulled out a 1-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4 victory to move on to today’s final.
Soares, ranked 98th nationally, will face fourth-seeded and 80th-ranked Abigail Chiu of Austin, Texas, in the final at CORP. The event is one of four national selection tournaments held across the nation.
Berland, Ma in Dillingham final
Top-seeded Thibaud Berland, a Hawaii Pacific Unversity senior, will face former BYU Hawaii standout Rong Ma in the men’s singles final of the Dillingham Tennis Championship today at Punahou. The final is scheduled for 11 a.m.
Berland defeated Jakub Hadrava 6-1, 6-2 in Sunday’s semifinals and Ma swept Thomas Schubert 6-4, 6-4.
Berland will also play in the doubles final with Bojan Popovic after a 7-6, 6-3 win over Hadrava and Jaume Martinez Vich. Ma and Wei Yu Su also advanced with a 7-6, 7-5 win over Carter Lam and Chas Okamoto.
In the women’s doubles round robin, Katerina Corpuz and Taylor Lau defeated Karen Ramirez and Rie Yukihiro 7-5, 6-4. Ramirez and Yukihiro then defeated Maile Brilhante and Roberta Russo 6-4, 6-3.
Florence to face Medina in quarterfinal
Hawaii’s John John Florence lost in his fourth-round heat, but came back to make the quarterfinals by beating Australia’s Matt Wilkinson 16.80 to 14.87 in the Quiksilver Pro France surf contest Sunday.
Florence will face reigning world champion Gabriel Medina of Brazil in the quarters of the World Surf League contest when it resumes today, surf permitting.
The two front-runners for the world title, Australia’s Mick Fanning and Brazil’s Adriano De Souza, also made it through to the quarters.
In the women’s Roxy Pro France, three Hawaii competitors — Coco Ho, Carissa Moore and Tatiana Weston-Webb — all surfed into the quarterfinals with victories in the third round Sunday. Alessa Quizon of Hawaii lost to Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons in the fourth round.
