Amistad bags 14-U,16-U crowns in Juntaphil tennis

MANILA, Philippines - Andrea Nicole Amistad mastered Monica Cortez and came away with a pair of straight-set victories to sweep the girls’ 14- and 16-and under crowns in the Baguio Junior Tennis Championships at the Baguio Tennis Club in Baguio City Saturday.

Amistad, playing out of National U, capped her domination of the 14-U class where she upended top seed Ma. Dominique Ong, 6-3, 6-1, in the semis with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Cortez then repeated over Cortez in the 16-U category with a 6-1, 6-0 romp to emerge the lone double winner in the weeklong Group 2 event organized by the Junior Tennis Association of the Philippines.

Jacob Martin, meanwhile, pulled off a thriller of a win in the boys’ 12-and-under, outlasting Marraphael Teng in a grueling two-hour, 20-minute encounter for a 7-6, 6-4 victory.

It was the 11-year-old Martin’s third straight win, counting his victories in the Babolat event in Palawan and the Tru-Flex tournament in Alabang last month.

Gia Sagandoy hacked out a three-setter over Jovi Anne Macaraeg, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, to capture the girls’ 12-and-under diadem in the tournament sponsored by First Gen Corp. and Smart Communications serving as the first of two tournaments lined up by Juntaphil this summer.