The five-day tennis tournament consisted of 13 divisions with over 100 participants.
The White Coconut Classic’s signature event – the mixed-up doubles category – was dominated by Peter Loyola and Tammy Ackerman, who defeated Emily Jones and Peter Loken in the finals round. The Loyola-Ackerman duo topped a pool of 60 teams, beating Rafael Jones and Carl Dela Cruz, 6-1 and 7-5 in the semis. In the quarterfinals, they bested Gary Ramsey and Seiya Eda, 6-4 and 6-3. Both Jones and Loken crushed the team of Tim Goodwin and Chris Cajigan, 4-6, 6-4, and 10-6 to earn their finals ticket.
Loyola also entered the men’s singles event and settled for second place – right below first-ranked Jeff Race. Race defeated Loyola, 8-6, downed Bobby Cruz, 8-6, and outscored Rafael Jones, 8-3. Cruz earned third place by beating Raj Rai via default and surpassing Tomo Imazato, 8-2.
Meanwhile, Dong Min Lee took the men’s 40-and-above singles title. Fernando Cajigan won second and Nakajima claimed third.
Lydia Tan ruled the women’s single division after beating Kinumi Taniguchi, 8-2 and Sakiko Eda, 8-1. Prior to her finals loss, Taniguchi conquered Nina Engelhardt, 8-4 and Tina Goodwin, 8-3. She scored second place while Eda took third.
Winners in the boys 18-and-under division included Jones (first), Christian Miller (second), and Daniel Park (third). All singles categories – with the exception of the boys and girls 18U divisions – followed a compass format. 18U players faced off in round robin-style play. The mixed-up doubles event followed a single elimination bracket.
Jones scored four straight wins over Andy Nutting (8-0), Park (8-6), Clay McCullough-Stearns (8-0), and Miller (8-1). Miller tallied three wins and one loss while Park took two wins and two losses.
Theecel Minor took the spotlight for the girls 18U category, followed by runner-up Jodel Fernandez and third place finisher Amy Arenovski. Minor defeated Arenovski, 8-3 last Saturday at Fiesta Resort and Spa. She then routed Ilia Corella, 8-0 on Sunday and finished off with an 8-4 win over Fernandez.
Jake Lee led the way in the boys 15U singles event, along with first runner up Angelo Jones and third-ranked Tommy Choi. Lee tackled five consecutive games to become the 15U champion. He defeated Jones, 8-6 in the finals and Choi, 8-5 in the semis. Jones outlasted Carl Dela Cruz, 8-6 to reach the championship.
The girls 15U title went to Mikayla Lopez, who triumphed, 8-3 over Melody Johnson in the finals. Johnson bagged second place while Negahr Rastguiy won third.
Other winners included: boys 12U netters Moris Villanueva (first), Colin Ramsey (second), and Michael Ren (third); girls 12U’s Ackerman (first), Emily Jones (second), and Isabel Heras (third); boys 10U’s Luther Lizama (first), Clayton Izuka (second), and Alex Park (third); girls 10U’s Julia Ishikawa (first), Tania Tan (second), and Malika Miyawaki (third).
Robbie Schorr topped the mini-tennis event, followed by runner-up Sakura Sato and third place finisher Asia Raulerson.
All singles games followed an eight-game pro set except the 10U division, which played six-game sets. The White Coconut Classic started on February 12 and 13 and continued last weekend.
Up next is Pacific Islands Club’s Tennis Tournament, set for March 25-27 and April 1-3.
