Resma halts Taiwanese ace, wins ITF singles

MANILA, Philippines - Roxanne Resma rallied from a set down to beat Pei Hsuan Chen of Chinese-Taipei, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, and snatch the singles crown then teamed up with Khim Iglupas to bag the doubles diadem in the second leg of the ITF (International Tennis Federation) Junior Circuit in Colombo, Sri Lanka recently.

Resma, who held off Britain’s Holly Hutchinson, 7-6, 64, in the semis, recovered from a first-set struggle in the singles finals, breaking Chen twice in the second to force a decider where she mastered the Taiwanese with a superb all around game.

Resma’s win over Chen also avenged Iglupas’ setback in the earlier round of the ladies singles.

Iglupas also lost to Hutchinson in the singles finals in the first leg.

The Philippine Tennis Academy trainees later teamed up to blast Ukrainian Xenya Prokopchuk and Indian Angella Raman, 7-5, 6-1, and pocket the doubles crown, their second straight after ruling the circuit’s opening leg.

In the semis, Resma and Iglupas easily disposed of Chen and Fang Hsien Wu, 6-4, 6-2.

Resma and Iglupas are on their third year of training under the PTA, a private sector initiative of local tennis patrons Jean Henri Lhuillier, Romy Chan, Oscar Hilado and Hanky Lee whose objective is to produce ITF-ranked Filipinos in the junior division.

“We are very happy with the performances of our PTA trainees, it shows we are on the right track in our training program and we are confident of attaining our goal,” said Lhuillier.