Pinay netters crash out in Holcim opener

MANILA, Philippines - Three Filipino netters bowed out right in the first round of the $10,000 Holcim/ITF Women’s Circuit Week I as Czarina Mae Arevalo and the Patrimonio sisters – Anna Christine and Ann Clarice – bowed to their respective foreign rivals at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center yesterday.

Arevalo, the country’s former No. 1 who made it to the tournament proper through the qualifiers, dropped a 2-6, 4-6 setback to Israel’s Ofri Lankri under scorching heat and bombed out of the annual tournament sponsored by Holcim, PLDT/Smart, Phinma and the ITF Grand Slam Development Fund.

It was a sorry setback for Arevalo, the former PCA Open champion who escaped with a 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 win over German Katharina Lehnert and scored a 6-0, 6-1 rout over Chinese Tapei’s Lee Pei Chi in the two-day elims to get into the main 32-player draw.

Anna Clarice Patrimonio dragged Vietnamese Trang Huynh Phoung Dai into an extended second set but took a 6-4, 7-5 loss just the same while elder sister Anna Christine also dropped a 4-6, 4-6 loss to Elodie Rogge-Dietrich of France.

The string of setbacks left US-based Maricris Fernandez and Fil-Am Riza Zalameda, who with the Patrimonio siblings made it to the main draw as wildcard entries, as the last RP hopes in the event backed by Tecnifibre Balls.

The 30-year-old Fernandez, the inaugural champion of this same event 11 years ago who is on a comeback trail, faces Japanese qualifier Yoko Naito while the 23-year-old Zalameda takes on fourth seed Yoo Mi of Korea in today’s resumption of the singles matches.

Also advancing to the second round are Thais Tanaporn Thongsing and N. Lertpitaksinchai, Miao Yui-lynn of Taiwan, Ivana King of the US and second seed Lee Ye-ra of Korea.

Thongsing struggled past Korean Han Na-lae, 7-5, 2-6, 7-5; Lertpitaksinchai outlasted Thai Sophia Mulsap, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3; Miao beat Beatrice Gumulya of Indonesia, 6-4, 1-6, 6-1; King turned back Korea You Ju-hee, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4; and Lee trounced compatriot Kim Sun-jung, 6-3, 6-3. – Joey Villar