Juniors tiff kicks off PCA Open

All is set for the staging of the 25th Philippine Columbian Association Open Tennis Championships, which will kick off with the juniors competitions this Friday at the PCA courts in Plaza Dilao, Paco, Manila.

The men’s and ladies Open offering a total cash purse of P400,000 will be held from Nov. 18-26. There will also be competitions in the interclub and intercollegiate divisions.

Among the title-contenders in the men’s division offering P80,000 to the singles champion are Patrick John Tierro and Johnny Arcilla, both members of the men’s team that won the gold medal in last year’s SEA Games, and former RP Davis Cupper Joseph Victorino, who returned to active competition after working as a trainer in Japan for one year.

The world’s No. 797 Tierro, runner-up to Korean Chung Hee Seok last year, is currently in the US after playing in a series of tournaments in Asia.

Asian Games-bound Arcilla, the 2001 champion and runner-up in 2003 and 2004, won the Digos Open title last month and was runner-up in the Abalos Cup two weeks ago, while Victorino pocketed the PCA Open title over Adelo Abadia four years ago.

Czarina Mae Arevalo will be eyeing her second straight and fourth overall title in the ladies division where the singles champion gets P30,000 and the runner-up P15,000.

This year’s staging of the country’s longest-running tennis tournament is sponsored by Dunlop, PVL Restaurant-Little Lawrence, Hewlett Packard Corp. Phils., Romy See and Brian Poturnak, Eagle Point Resort, Burlington Socks, Coca-Cola, San Miguel Beer, Philippine Star and the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Players must personally register at the PCA secretariat (tel. no. 5638501 loc. 132 and 5629278) or email at [email protected]. Deadline of entry is on Oct. 26 (juniors) and Nov. 10 (open). Qualifying rounds in the men’s and ladies’ singles and doubles will be held from Nov. 13-17.