CEBU, Philippines - Johnny Arcilla exacted revenge against felow national player Patrick John Tierro with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory to capture the title and the top purse of P40,000 in the Cebuana Lhuillier Tennis Circuit Men’s Open at the Baseline Tennis Center recently.
Arcilla dominated the two-and-a-half-hour game fought through 21 deuces to outclass his Davis Cup teammate whom met in a championship showdown for the fifth time in their career.
He received the championship plate from sportsman/businessman Jean Henri Lhuillier.
The event is backed by Cebuana Lhuillier and sponsored by Pera Padala, Le Soleil de Boracay, P. Lhuillier Insurance Agency and Phiten.
Arcilla bucked nagging pains from an old groin injury and a nasty spill he experienced while saving the ball in the second set. But with the crowd cheering him on, the veteran Davis Cupper used these as rallying point.
“My previous injury had some psychological effect some, but I stuck to my game plan -- hit hard and chase all his shots,” said Arcilla.
“But this is a good win. I can now take a much-deserved rest para mapa-theraphy ko rin yung injury ko,” he added.
It was the fourth time in five meetings Arcilla won over Tierro, mostly from the shell court. In their championship encounter last February at the Metro Pacific event, Arcilla retired due to a groin injury, allowing Tierro to capture the title.
After losing the first set, Arcilla bounced back strong in the next two sets by playing more aggressively and coming up with a different game plan against the more conditioned Tierro, who recently won a similar event in Angeles City.
Arcilla hammered in great shots and saved several game winners to make up for the countless double faults he had throughout the game.
In the third set, Tierro was leading, 2-1, but Arcilla won four of the next five games for a 5-3 lead by rushing to the net.
“Johnny is really a good player,” said Tierro. “I did the best I could but he made several great shots, shots that I felt have no chance of going in, but they did.”