Kiwi netter outlasts Ho in marathon duel

The Philippine campaign for honors suffered severe blows right at the start of the 19th Mitsubishi International Juniors Tennis Championships at the Rizal Tennis Center with six Filipinos bowing to superior foreign rivals.

Joshua Ho came the closest in pulling off a stunner as he held his own before losing to New Zealand’s Ben McLachlan, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-7 (6), in a match that lasted four hours – one of the longest in tournament history.

The 17-year-old Ho endured leg cramps late in the deciding set to force one last tiebreaker, survived two match points before a pair of unforced errors sealed his fate in this weeklong event staking 150 International Tennis Federation points for the singles champion.

It turned out the best stand by the Filipinos as Leander Lazaro, Paul Nicole Magaway, Mark Jaypee Balce and lucky loser Kyle Cordero also took early exit in this meet once won by former world No. 1 Leyton Hewitt of Australia and doubles specialist Mahesh Buphati of India.

Lazaro succumbed to Maciej Rajski of Poland, 3-6, 6-4, followed by Magaway to Justin Chak-To of Hong Kong, 1-6, 3-6, Cordero to Kelsey Stevenson of Canada, 1-6, 4-6, and Balce to Michael Lampa of the United States, 1-6, 1-6.

Carlos Martin Espedido came next as he was shown the door by Chun Ming Yam of Hong Kong, 2-6, 0-6.

The string of stinging defeats left 12th seed Francis Casey Alcantara, Pablo Olivarez Jr. and Juan Fidel Regis to carry the cudgels for the embattled local netters.

Alcantara, ranked 114th in the world, drew a first round bye and will face world No. 290 Rajski in the second round today while Olivarez, a member of the RP team that was swept by Japan in their Group I Davis Cup tie, and Regis were playing Sonny Purnomo of Indonesia and Riki McLachlan of New Zealand, at press time, respectively.

Australians Maverick Banes, Dane Propoggia and Jarryd Chaplin and Japanese Shuichi Sekiguchi also made it through.

Banes stopped countryman Stephen Hoh, 7-6 (3), 0-6, 6-4, Propoggia smashed Igor Bujdo Nowak of Poland, 6-3, 6-4, Chaplin edged Christopher Marquis of India, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, and Sekiguchi slammed Chih Chen of Chinese Taipei, 6-2, 6-1.

In girls’ action, Australian Ashling Sumner trounced Indian Tanvi Shah, 6-4, 6-3, to become the first player to advance in the day.