Lim, Jones rap rivals, enter ITF quarters

MANILA, Philippines - Alberto Lim Jr. blew past Nguyen Dac Tien, 6-1, 6-1, while Fil-Brit Meredith Jones repulsed Korea’s Park Mijeong, 6-2, 7-5, as they advanced to the quarterfinals of Week Two of the Ajay Pathak Memorial Cup/ITF 14-Under Development Championships at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center yesterday.

The streaking Lim, chasing a second straight crown following an impressive triumph in Week One of the event sponsored by the ITF Grand Slam Development Fund and the Philippine Tennis Academy, dished out another A-game to easily dispose of his Viet rival for yet another one-sided win for the two-time NCAA juniors singles champion.

“I always go for the win, the faster the better,” said the 13-year-old Lim, who also topped an ITF juniors tournament in November last year and steered the Letran Squires to back-to-back NCAA tennis titles last month.

Lim will next face the winner between Hong Kong’s Lam Ching and fifth pick Vashisht Cheruku.

Jones, meanwhile, sputtered in the second set but recovered in time to frustrate Park and arrange a quarters duel with No. 4 Tang Yutong of China, who overpowered India’s Sruta Gunuganti, 6-2, 6-1.

Monica Therese Cruz, however, absorbed a 4-6, 3-6 defeat from the big-hitting No. 5 Mihika Yadav of India and bowed out of the tournament backed by the Philippine Sports Commission, Technifibre Balls, Wilkins, Mariposa Foundation, Cebuana Lhuillier, Chowking and Trans-Asia Corp.

Jerome Romualdez also dropped a 1-6, 2-6 blowout to China’s Zhang Changli, while John Bryan Otico fell to Thailand’s Sirawat Daosaengsawang, 2-6, 3-6.

But Arthur Craig Pantino and Jan Godfrey Seno, who teamed up with Lim to bag the doubles title last week, stayed in the hunt with the former beating Turkmenistan’s Andrey Kaschenko, 6-0, 6-2, and the latter stunning Uzbekistan’s Asishon Turgunov, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, in the event held in honor of former ITF and Philta official Ajay Pathak.