Pinay netters yield to tough foreign foes

MANILA, Philippines - Filipina hopefuls succumbed to strong international challenge and failed to advance past the qualifying round of the ICTSI-International Tennis Federation Women’s Circuit at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum yesterday.

Aileen Rogan put up a gritty stand in the second set but lost to Chinese Zhou Ya just the same, 1-6, 5-7; Maika Tanpoco bowed to Korean Che Kyung Yee, 1-6, 3-6; and Marianne de Guzman yielded to Indian Nimisha Mohan, 1-6, 0-6.

The Philippines, however, is pinning its hopes on Christine Patrimonio, Marinel Rudas, Tamitha Nguyen and Marinel Capadocia, who gained wild card berths in the tournament sponsored by ICTSI and organized by the Philippine Tennis Association.

Patrimonio hopes to come out strong this time after crashing out as early as the first round in last year’s staging of the event.

Nguyen, meanwhile, hopes to keep the momentum of her recent victory in Vietnam while Rudas made it to the quarterfinal in the recent Brunei ITF Juniors Circuit.

In Vietnam, Nguyen humbled Patrimonio’s younger sister Clarice, who decided to skip the ITF Week I tournament.

Capadocia took the fourth and last wild card slot given to the host nation following respectable showing in Hong Kong and Indonesia early this year.

Expected to dominate the event are the foreign netters, headed by Belgian Gally de Wael, Finnish Piia Suomalainen and French Elodie Rogge-Dietrich.