De Guzman, Eala reign in First Gen netfest

MANILA, Philippines - Akiko de Guzman recovered from a second set setback and outlasted Ma. Angela Sunga in a down-to-the-wire decider to hack out a 6-0, 5-7, 7-5 victory and clinch the girls’ 16-under crown in the First Gen/Juntaphil Metro Age Group tennis tournament at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center yesterday.

After a cruise in the opener, the top seeded De Guzman struggled in the face of Sunga’s big fightback in the second and needed to dig deeper in her repertoire of shots to fashion out the scrambling win.

In contrast, top ranked Michael Eala hardly found a challenge in scoring a 6-0, 6-0 romp over third seed Diego Dayrit to cap his domination of the 10-unisex division the way he did in the Juntaphil Cup in Baguio last week.

It was Eala’s third shutout win in the week, dropping just five games in four matches en route to the championship as he firmed up his claim as the top player in the group in the event presented by First Gen Corporation and sponsored by Smart Communications.

He shoots for another crown in the upper division today as he beat Emmanuel Vacallanes, 6-0, 6-1, in the semis to gain a crack at the 12-under title against the winner of the Mahmod Dimacuta-Cenon Gonzales Jr. match.

De Guzman also reached the finals of the 18-under class after stunning second seed Samantha Coyiuto, 6-0, 6-2, with Sunga and Khrizelle Sampaton clashing for the other final slot at presstime while Jenni Dizon and Erika Manduriao will slug it out for the girls’ 14-under title in the tournament sanctioned by Philta, organized by Juntaphil and backed by Technifibre.

Second seed Daniel Villasenor also moved into the finals of the 14-under class.