Romualdez, Huibonhua gain in Milo Jr

MANILA, Philippines - Fourth seed Jerome Romualdez and unheralded Vernon Huibonhua hurdled their respective opponents to advance in the Milo Junior Tennis Cup at the Philam Village Tennis Club in West Ave., Quezon City.

The 11-year-old Romualdez, seeded fourth in the 14-and-under section, overpowered Renz Antisoda, 6-1, 6-1, with the Xavier School student finding himself in the quarterfinal phase after Ivan Moses Gonzales and McRidell Tadeo failed to show up in their scheduled first round duel.

The 15-year-old Huibonhua also had a relatively easy time in the first set but found the going tough in the next frame, needing to hang on to thwart Ronald Roces, a varsity player from University of the East, 6-2, 7-6(2), in the 18-and-under division.

The second year high school student from Xavier School will thus face seventh pick Renz Ma, who drew a first round bye in this weeklong meet facilitated by tournament director Rene Selmar.

In other boys’ 14-and-under results of the tournament that drew over 170 participants, including foreign entries and some US-based netters, Stefan Suarez trounced Mark Agner, 6-3, 6-3, while Simon Gonzales Jr. stopped Malaysian Darrell Quek, 6-2, 7-5, to set up a second round showdown.

“We have a big and very strong field because we have participants coming from Malaysia and some balikbayans from the US,” said Selmar.