The strongest youth tennis event regionally, the Pacific Oceania Junior Championships attracted the best U12, U14 and U16 from throughout the North and South Pacific.

Guam’s contingent included Camelo Chen, Jeren De Vera, Louis Ishida, Andrew Kim, Aki Noble, Ezra O’Brien, Malachi O’Brien, Leah San Agustin, Rachel San Agustin, Faith Perera and Rafa Villaflor. Team Guam was coached by Ryan Horn and Christian Penafiel.

The POJC, an annual event on the International Tennis Federation and Oceania Tennis Federation calendar, was hosted at the Lautoka Regional Tennis Centre from April 10 to 18 in Lautoka, Fiji.

Perera, who played in the girls U14 division and posted the Team’s Guam’s best results, defeated Joella Loane in the singles championship match 6-3, 6-2.

“I feel like i played some of my best tennis during that match, and everything was working for me,” Perera said. “I feel relieved to be champion because it’s what I’ve always wanted since my first year here at POJC.”

Before her encounter with Loane, Perera was familiar with her game and she respected her power and and ball-placement ability. She knew she was going to have to play her best tennis to beat her. And, she did.

“Her game is super difficult to overcome because the power and placement on both her forehand and backhand are hard to break,” Perera said.

Perera, who also made another finals appearance, paired in the girls U14 doubles competition with Saipan’s Youngwoo Stella Choi against Fiji’s Alexandria Chand and Loane. Perera and Choi lost the match 6-0, 3-6, 6-10.

Guam’s other finals showing was in boys U14 singles, where Chen lost to American Samoa’s Hermann Thomsen 6-0, 1-6, 6-10.

Chen won the first set in about 30 minutes, but, in the second and third sets, wasn’t able to adapt to Thomsen’s moon-ball tactics. As the match wore on, Thomsen’s lobs soared higher.

“I feel like that match made me realize I need to fix a lot of things in my game,” Chen said. “The first set against Hermann was very comfortable for me because he was trying to hit his shots fast and flat, which was more suitable for my game style. And then, second set, he mixed it up by hitting the ball to the sky – every shot – which made me very tired and I couldn’t find a solution in time. The third set, Hermann just continued to do what was working by moon-balling, and i was not able to find a way to counter it.”