Eight Pacific Island countries descended on Lautoka in Fiji from 2-6 August to contest the Oceania Tennis Federation (OTF) and International Tennis Federation's Pacific Nations Cup.

Being an annual tournament, the Pacific Nations Cup is one of the most hotly contested events for Pacific Island tennis players’ in the build-up to the 2023 Pacific Games in the Solomon Islands and sounds out the in-form teams to beat.

This year men’s and women’s teams from Tahiti, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Northern Marianas, PNG, Cook Islands, Samoa and Fiji went head to head in a hectic five days of tennis competition.

There were three players’ in each team. The event format was scheduled into two pools round robin for both men and women, where the players’ played two singles and a deciding doubles. The top two teams from each pool played a semi-final to decide the finalists.

The Samoan men’s team made up of Leon So’onalole (captain), Marvin So’onalole and Harley Cronin were seeded number 2 in the event and the top team in Pool B with Northern Marianas, Solomon Islands and Cook Islands. Tahiti were the number 1 seed and the top team in Pool A. 

Leon and Marvin established their experience and dominance in the singles event by defeating their opponents without losing a set. And with the exuberance and energy of young Harley “the Sonic”, they completed the triple in the doubles winning 3-0 in all three Pool games.

In the semi-finals, our men’s team played Vanuatu who were the runner up from Pool A. In similar style, as they did in the Pool games, Marvin despatched the up-and-coming Noah Molbaleh 6-1 6-4.

Leon defeated Zachary Sands 6-3 in the first set of the second singles before Zachary retired unable to finish the game with a shoulder injury. This result propelled the men’s team into the highly expected finals with the Tahitians who also came through undefeated.

Samoa’s ladies team comprised Eleanor Schuster (captain), Mahinarangi Warren and Roselyn Tupuola. They were ranked number 1 in the event by virtue of the Samoan women being the defending champions from the last Pacific Nations Cup in 2019 in Lautoka. They were pooled with Tahiti, Northern Marianas (NMI) and Vanuatu. 

Samoa defeated Tahiti and Vanuatu 3-0 in the pool play. Eleanor suffered a leg muscle cramp in the Vanuatu match which meant Mahina moved up to play in the number 1 position and Roselyn in number 2 in the last pool game against NMI. This was match was to decide the top team in Pool A.

However, they came up short against NMI Roselyn winning 7-5 6-4 but Mahina losing 2-6 3-6 in the second singles. In the deciding doubles, Eleanor and Mahina went down 7-10 in a tie breaker. 

This set up a semi-finals with the hot flying Fijian team who were the second seeds and the top team from Pool B. Unfortunately, the Fijian team were too good on the day Mahina going down 3-6 3-6 to Ruby Coffin and Eleanor 1-6 0-6 to Saoirse Breen.

TSI President Sula Tagifano Soonalole-Sam Chong this was a great result for tennis Samoa. 

“Team Samoa exceeded our expectation of making the final medal rounds considering that our senior and junior players have been locked out of tennis competition for 2 and a half years since August 2019 because of COVID,” he said in a statement. 

“Our attendance in Saipan in the Mini Games was definitely a ‘feeling out’ but our aim was the PNC where we had more time to prepare.”

The finals day on Saturday was filled with confidence and the desire to go all the way. Marvin was first up playing Tahiti’s #2 Patoia. After putting up a courageous fight but just sort of finals match fitness, Marvin went down 6-4 6-2. 

To at least get to a deciding doubles, Leon had a ‘must win’ game and all pressure fell on the Captain. Leon stepped up in the second singles handing Tahiti’s #1 Reynald Taaroa his first set loss 7-5 in the whole tournament. 

In the second set, Leon was serving set match to win the second set at 5-4 and to stamp his position as the No. 1 undefeated singles player in the men’s competition. Unfortunately, he lost his serve and the momentum went Reynald’s way who came back and took out the second set 5-7. 

The loss of the second set, however, was an adrenaline injection which bolted Leon to a 3-0 lead in the deciding third set. Despite this, the unforeseen happened as it does in tennis. Being his first final for a long time, Leon suffered heat stroke which also resulted in serious muscle cramps. Yet, Leon still believed he could win the third set. 

The opposite and expected circumstance followed as Reynald took advantage of the situation and came back to take the lead 3-4. However, out of concern for Leon’s wellbeing, the match had to be abandoned giving Tahiti the gold.

In the women’s bronze between Samoa and the Cooks, Roselyn won the first singles 7-5 6-0 and Eleanor completing the second singles 6-2 6-1 on their way to securing the bronze medal position. The women’s team have never been out of medal contention since the inception of the tournament in 2018.

The President of TSI expressed his thanks to the players and management, the parents, SIFA, BBE and PacificAusSports Hub for their prayers, encouragement and financial support which has made Team Samoa’s participation a great success and the belief that the impossible can be made possible with much effort, commitment, and above all, God.