Pinoy netters making waves

Double Southeast Asian (SEA) Games gold medalists Cecil Mamiit and Eric Taino, carrying the national colors, continue to gain valuable experience in the United States Tennis Association pro circuit. The experience will go a long way in their quest for gold at the Asian Games in Doha late this year.

A week ago, Mamiit and Taino saw action in the 32-man main draw singles of the $50,000 Challenger of Santa Clarita tournament in Santa Clarita Valley, California.

Mamiit advanced to the quarterfinals where he bowed to German star Benjamin Becker, the 2004 NCAA singles champion from Baylor University and a Wimbledon juniors veteran. Becker, 25, went on to play in the finals and lost a three-set thriller to Frederic Niemeyer of Canada.

Incidentally, it was Niemeyer who crushed Taino’s bid in the first round. Niemeyer, however, had difficulty disposing of the Fil-Am and settled for a 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 win. Although Taino was dispatched after just a match, he was cited for taking the eventual champion to three grueling sets with the clincher coming in the 12th game.

As for Mamiit, he didn’t do badly, too. He scored a major upset in the first round, blasting third-seed Kevin Kim of the US in a hard-fought war, 0-6, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3). Mamiit’s comeback was remarkable considering he was blanked in the opening set. Then he scrambled to survive a pair of tiebreakers before bundling out Kim, the world’s No. 121 player.

In the second round, Mamiit took out Dudi Sela of Israel, 7-6 (1), 7-5. Sela had previously eliminated Sam Warburg of the US, 6-2, 6-4.

Last month, Taino and Mamiit campaigned separately with encouraging results.

Taino competed in the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells and reached the second round. He trounced Jiri Vanek of the Czech Republic, 6-4, 7-5, then lost to Giovanni Lapentti of Ecuador, 6-2, 6-2.

Mamiit, in contrast, won the doubles championship of the Romano Cup with Lee Hyung Taik of Korea in Ho Chi Minh City, defeating Jacob Adaktusson of Sweden and Sela, 6-4, 6-2, in the finals.

On the way to the throne, Mamiit and Lee ousted Norikazu Sugiyama of Japan and Wang Yu of China, 4-6, 6-1, 10-5, Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan and Peng Sun of China, 6-4, 6-3, and Chen Ti of Chinese-Taipei and Philip King of the US, 6-4, 6-2.

In the Romano Cup singles, Mamiit wasn’t as lucky. He swept his first two assignments, downing No. 7 seed Michal Mertinak of Slovakia, 7-6 (6), 6-1, and China’s Peng Sun, 6-0, 6-2, then lost to the world’s No. 85 and Asia’s No. 2 player Wang Yeu Tzuoo of Chinese-Taipei, 6-3, 7-6 (6) in the quarterfinals.

Wang was defeated by eventual champion Zack Fleishman of the US, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, in the semifinals. He is ranked behind only Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan in Asia. Paradorn, Wang and Mamiit are tipped to dispute the singles crown in Doha this December.

Paradorn, 26, is the world’s No. 37 player with career earnings of over $3 Million.

Aside from Mamiit and Tierra, also creating a stir in overseas competitions is Patrick John Tierro who is sponsored by sportsman Jean Henri Lhuillier.

Tierro, who won a gold in the men’s team event in the SEA Games, made it to the quarterfinals of the $25,000 Masters satellite circuit at the RK Khanna Stadium in New Delhi recently. He whipped No. 7 seed Hyun Woo Nam of Korea, 6-4, 6-4, to arrange the showdown with Austrian veteran and top-ranked Herbert Wiltschnig.

Tierro, 20, surprised the 31-year-old Wiltschnig by extending him to the limit before succumbing, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.

"Wiltschnig has the same solid game as Cecil except he’s 6-4 and Cecil is 5-8," said Tierro who trains at the Subic Bay International Tennis Center under Beeyong Sison. ‘Sayang, I was there with him and hitting the ball well until the third set, serving 1-2, I double-faulted at 40-30 and again during a deuce point. He was really putting pressure on me. The more I get a chance to play with experienced tour players, the more I build my game."

Tierro is only in his second year on the International Tennis Federation and Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tour. Sison, an assistant national coach of the Swiss Tennis Federation in 1986, has laid out a five-year development plan for Tierro to scale the heights of tennis. The plan is based on the premise that the peak performance of male tennis players is between the ages of 24 to 26.

Tierro is now ranked No. 903 in the world, up from No. 1171 before the satellite circuit.

"The win-loss column is not our concern yet," said Sison. ‘Our goal is to have P. J. play 25 to 30 events this year and next. P. J. stands for Pacquiao Jr. and we hope to see him throw bigger punches at least three years down the road."

Lhuillier has supported Tierro the last two years. International exposure has been key to Tierro’s progress as he is now the country’s No. 1 player and joined Mamiit, Taino and Johnny Arcilla on the men’s team that hit paydirt in the last SEA Games.

As of last month, Taino was ranked No. 229 and Mamiit No. 251 by the ATP. The world’s top three players are No. 1 Roger Federer of Switzerland, No. 2 Rafael Nadal of Spain and No. 3 David Nalbandian of Argentina.

Postscript: Many thanks to former Philippine No. 1 junior netter Randy Villanueva, the recent SEA Games tennis tournament director, for providing the updates on Mamiit, Taino and Tierro.