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Events in Pacific Oceania 2010
The major open tournament in the Pacific each year catering for all age groups is the Air Pacific/Adidas Fiji Open and Veterans Championships. The event is held at the Denarau Golf and Racquets Club where four new synthetic grass courts have just been laid to complement the six natural grass courts. Being a resort island Denarau offers top class accommodation with special prices for tournament participants and opportunities for a great holidays as well.
In addition to the Open events there are a number of seniors (veterans) age groups and also a junior competition. For those less inclined towards competitive tennis there is a social doubles division as well which is always extremely popular. For further details look under the senior, SPG section of the website. dates are 26 to 30 May.
Norfolk Island will be hosting their annual veterans tournament at the Cheryl Tennis Club from 25 to 30 April. The club has excelent synthetic grass courts and clubhouse and every year welcomes large numbers of players from Australia and New Zealand.
The Chanel Tennis Club, up on the hill behind Apia, will host the annual Samoa Oceania Veterans Tournament on 28 and 29 May. This is a great social event drawing players from American Samoa and New Zealand last year and will welcome players from throughout the Oceania region for 2010
Guam Tennis Federation has worked with Japan Tennis and ITF to bring to Pacific Oceania for the first time a tournament on the Mens ITF Pro Circuit. The US$10000 event will be part of the circuit through Japan in May and June and will be held in the week beginning 31 May. this is great news for the region and hopefully the start of bigger things to come.
OTF has produced a Pacific Oceania tournament calendar for 2010 which can be found in the senior/SPG section of the website. It contains the dates of events and the contact persons for more information.
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Pacific Mini Games - Cook Islands
Cook Islands dominated the women's events while new Caledonia dominated the men's and teams events at the 2009 Pacific Mini Games in Rarotonga.
Cook Islands' Kairangi Vano and top seed Elodie Dietrich-Rogge (NC) played out the match of the tournament in the women's singles final. After winning the first set comfortably Vano (pictured above) was overwhelmed in the second set losing it 1-6 as Dietrich forced the match to a third set. In a thrilling set Vano eventually triumphed 7-5 in an epic battle between the two WTA ranked players.
The playoff for bronze was another highlight for the hosts as Brittany Teei outlasted Steffi Carruthers (SAM) 64 76(4) in a very close match. Teei and Vano then combined to win the women's doubles, defeating Dietrich-Rogge and Meryl Pydo 64 63. past gold medal winners Maylani Ah Hoy and Tagifano So'onalole-Taosonga (SAM) took out the bronze medal against Ravahere Rauzy and Mayka Zima 64 62.
Nickolas N'Godrela was the star of the tournament winning three gold medals. In singles he beat Gilles De Gouy from Tahiti 61 61 in the singles final, then combined with Guillaume Mont to win the doubles over Tahiti pairing of Patrice Cotti and Raiari Yan 62 63. He followed this up with his third gold of the day in the mixed doubles where he and Elodie Dietrich-Rogge beat the brother/sister combination of Marvin So'onalole and Tagifano So'onalole-Taosonga 64 63. The third So'onaloe, Leon combined with Marvin to take bronze in the mens doubles and with Maylani Ah Hoy for bronze in the mixed doubles.
Pacific Mini Games - Cook Islands
New caledonia claimed both gold medals in the men's and women's teams competitions during the first week of the Pacific Mini Games tennis competition in Rarotonga.
In the men's teams event New Caledonia took on Vanuatu in the final and scored two convicing wins in the singles meaning the doubles did not need to be played. Guillame Monot, in his first Pacific Mini Games beat Jerome Rovo in the opening match 63 62 and then Nikolas N'Godrela outplayed Pacific Oceania Davis Cup player Cyril Jacobe 60 63 to wrap up the tie and claim gold. The bronze medal playoff went right to the wire with Samoa just beating hosts Cook Islands 2-1. Brett Baudinet convincingly beat Leon So'onalole in the top singles but was unable to repaet the win in the deciding doubles playing with Sam Tangaroa, going down in three sets to So'onalole and Reinsford Penn.
The women's teams final featured home team Cook Islands against New Caledonia. Stephanie Diluccio got New Cal off to a great start beating Brittany Teei 61 64 and then Elodie Dietrich-Rogge sealed victory with a win over Kairangi Vano in three sets in a tight battle between two WTA world ranked players. The bronze medal was won by Samoa who beat Tahiti 2-1 taking the deciding doubles convincingly 61 61.
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