Patrombon succumbs to Japanese

MANILA, Philippines - Jeson Patrombon took a 5-7, 2-6 beating from veteran Kento Takeuchi of Japan to crash out of the Indonesia Men’s Futures 3 tournament in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Patrombon, 18, was in the thick of things in the first set, even seizing a 4-3 lead. He went up 30-0 in the eighth game with the sixth seed Takeuchi serving. 

But Takeuchi, a semifinalist in Futures netfests in Australia, China, and Surabaya, used his experience and “delaying tactics” to turn the tables around and pull off the win.

“Takeuchi started complaining to the umpire and delaying the match because he thought the umpire was making mistakes on her line calls which was totally false,” Patrombon’s coach Manny Tecson said.

“This was just an old tactic and gamesmanship by the men’s (campaigners) to disrupt the rhythm of a young player like Jeson because Jeson was starting to get the feel of his lefty serve and was returning with authority,” he added.

True enough, Patrombon lost control and Takeuchi held serve to tie it at 4. The next two games went to serve for 5-5 then the 23-year-old Japanese took the pivotal 11th by landing an angled crosscourt passing shot after some 20 tough rallies to break the Pinoy ace.  

The 735th ranked Japanese emerged from several deuces in the 12th to wrap up the set, then clawed back from a 1-2 deficit in the second to hurdle Patrombon.