Lim cruises to semis; Seno Jones tumble

MANILA, Philippines - Alberto Lim Jr. shook off a shaky second set stint and went on to blast Vashisht Vinod Cheruku of India, 6-1, 6-2, and reach the semifinal round in Week Two of the Ajay Pathak Memorial Cup/ITF 14-Under Development Championships at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center yesterday.

Lim, seeking a sweep of the two titles in the ITF Grand Slam Development Fund and the Philippine Tennis Academy-sponsored event, dominated Cheruku in the opening frame but failed to break his rival after four games in the second.

But he quickly dashed what hopes Cheruku had by sweeping the next three games to set up semis clash with No. 6 Charles Roberts of Thailand, who downed Hong Kong’s Sou Ming Chin Alan, 6-1, 6-3.

“I got a little bit sluggish early in the second set but I regained my focus in time,” said the 13-year-old Lim, who kept his unbeaten run in the two-week tournament supported by the Philippine Sports Commission, Technifibre Balls, Wilkins, Mariposa Foundation, Cebuana Lhuillier, Chowking and Trans-Asia Corp.

Jan Godfrey Seno, who teamed up with Lim in taking the doubles crown last week, failed to sustain his 4-6, 7-6 (1), 7-5 win over Vietnam’s  Nguyen Mau Vinh Quang Tuesday as he dropped a 4-6, 2-6 setback to No. 3 Parikshit Somani of India, 4-6, 2-6.

No. 8 Fil-Brit Meredith Jones likewise fell by the wayside as she bowed to unranked Sruta Kirti Gunuganti of India, 1-6, 3-6, leaving Lim as the lone Filipino bet in the event held in honor of Ajay Pathak, the late former ITF and Philta official.

“I’m sad they lost but I’m ready to carry the fight for the country,” said Lim, a recipient of the Tony Siddayao award in the Philippine Sportswriters Association Awards Night on Saturday at the Manila Hotel.

Gunuganti thus forged a semis duel with girls’ top seed Himani Mor of India, who bucked a fierce opening set challenge by Thailand’s Yinglak Jittakoat to prevail, 7-5, 6-0.

Two more upsets rocked the girls’ side after No. 5 Mihika Yadav of India humbled last week’s runner-up No. 2 Ren Jiaqi of China, 6-3, 6-3, and No. 7 Komola Umorova of Uzbekistan stunned No. 3 Jiang Eunse of Korea, 7-5, 7-6 (3).