MANILA, Philippines - A day after being booted out in singles play, Filipinos Jurence Mendoza and AJ Lim suffered the same heartbreaking result when they teamed up in the boys’ doubles of the 24th Mitsubishi Lancer International Junior Championship at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center yesterday.
Playing in tandem for the first time, Mendoza and Lim stretched Indian Sumit Nagal and Thai Wishaya Trongchareoenchaikul to the limit before yielding a 6-7 (7), 6-1, 8-10 setback to bow out of the Grade 1 netfest.
“It’s the doubles, anything can happen. Just breaks of the game, you could see from the score. Considering that it’s our first partnership, that’s already a good score,†said Mendoza.
The Pinoy junior netters were on the verge of winning the first-round match when they seized an 8-5 lead in the super tiebreak third set. But back-to-back unforced errors allowed Nagal and Trongchareoenchaikul to stay alive and pounced on the opportunity to snatch the win with an ace and a pair of well-placed shots.
The 16-year-old Mendoza and the 13-year-old Lim, who both crashed out in the Round of 32 of singles, will next compete in a Grade B1 Asian Closed Tournament in India, where they’ll try out their partnership once more.
“We’re still young, we still have a lot of improvement ahead of us. For example, we need to improve on our volley, that cost us the match today, and for me, my fitness,†said Mendoza.