By Kyle Terwilliger
Variety News Staff

The most competitive tennis action in Guam is being featured at the Hilton Guam Resort & Spa tennis courts for the USTA-sanctioned 4th Annual Guam International Tennis Open.
With the number of new and returning participants from around the region, tennis enthusiasts can expect to see even higher caliber matches as compared to last year’s tournament, Tournament Director Dan Tinsay would emphasize.
“The GITO provides an opportunity for spectators to see world-class tennis up close on Guam for free,” Tinsay said. “Unless one goes to an actual (off-island) tournament or other international competition like the Davis Cup or the Pacific Games, one might not have that opportunity.”
“The GITO also shows that Guam can be a viable sports destination in the Western Pacific,” he added.
Confirmed in the Open division draw are a slew of highly ranked players from different countries, including Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.
Defending champions from the Philippines, Johnny Arcilla and Czarina Arevalo, Men’s and Women’s Open singles champions respectively, will face a tough draw which includes South Korea’s Dong-Hyun Kim, who has been ranked as high as 327 in the world and newcomer to the GITO, Thi Kim Loi Tran of Vietnam, currently ranked third in her country and as high as 783 in the world.
Arevalo reached her highest Sony Ericsson WTA ranking of 582 in 2006.
Other ranked players include Japan’s Hiroyasu Sato who is ranked in the top 500 in the world for doubles, two-time GITO champion and last year’s finalist John James of Australia, South Korea’s Min-Hyeok Cho, Dong-Whee Choi, Seong-Yoon Chung, and Philippines’ Adelo Abadia Country-ranked female players include Japan’s Chiho Kobayashi and Sakiko Namba and South Korea’s Seo-Kyung Kang and Hye-Min Lee.
Additionally, USTA-Hawaii will send Mikael Maatta to Guam for the tournament. Local competitors will go up against some of the Asia-Pacific region’s up-and-coming premier and past professionally-ranked players for a chance to win more than $15,000 in cash and prizes.
More information, including draws and order of play sheets are available on the tournament’s official web site, http://www.guamopen.com. You may also call 646-1820, ext 5501 for more information.