Lim stays in hunt for rare double, whips Thai rival

MANILA, Philippines - Alberto Lim Jr. added sixth seed Congsup Congcar of Thailand to his growling list of victims as he essayed a one-sided 6-2, 6-2 victory yesterday to reach the quarterfinal round and stay in hunt for a rare double in the Phinma International Juniors (Week Two) Tennis Championships at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

A day after battling from behind to beat power-hitting Russian Alexander Yarkov, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, the 13-year-old Lim, the Week One winner, buckled down work and dominated an old, familiar foe in Congcar.

It was Lim’s second win over Congcar in a month after the former needed an extra set to edge the latter, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, in a Grade Three event in Hong Kong topped by countryman Jurence Mendoza last month.

“I played him (Congcar) before in Hong Kong and it took me three sets to beat him,” said Mendoza. “Familiar with his game a little, I stuck to my game plan of setting him up first before I unload my forehand.”

The country’s bets in the girls’ side, however, failed to advance as No. 3 Maika Jae Tanpoco bowed to unseeded Pranjala Yadlapalli, 6-2, 6-1, and Katrina Orteza dropped a 6-3, 7-5 setback to top seed Chang Ya Ting in the tournament backed by Technifibre (official ball), Viva (official mineral water) and Powerade (official energy drink) and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission, which provides free use of the RMTC.

Lim, the reigning NCAA high school champion, thus set up a re-match with third pick Yusuke Takahashi of Japan, who survived Australia’s Brian Tran, 1-6, 6-2, 6-1.

The Letran freshman is hoping for a repeat over Takahashi, whom he toppled, 6-3, 6-3, in last week’s final to clinch his first ever crown in the International Tennis Federation-sanctioned ranking tournament for 18 years old below.

“I’ve beaten him once so maybe I could beat him again,” said Lim of Takahashi.

Lim is eyeing his second ITF crown and hope he could gain enough ranking points to qualify to the Australian Open in January next year.

“I’m aiming to do good this week and hopefully gain some points to make it through the Australian Open,” said Lim. “I’m No. 568 in the world now and hopefully I could climb up even further maybe somewhere around the Top 400 because last year the cut off was 392.”