Japanese netters lead Phinma Week 2 qualifiers

MANILA, Philippines - Japanese bets disposed of their respective rivals to lead the march of qualifiers into the main draw of the PHINMA International Juniors Week 2 tournament at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

The Japanese swept the four final qualifying matches in the girls’ singles yesterday, with Sakura Yonehara, Momoka Yoshida, Yu Fujioka and Nanaka Takeuchi earning their spots and Yousuke Watanuki advancing in the boys’ side.

Yonehara and Yoshida drubbed local netters Jade Charito Capadocia, 6-0, 6-1, and Monica Therese Cruz, 6-3, 6-0, respectively, while Fujioka and Takaechu qualified at the expense of Chinese Junsai Wang, 6-1, 7-5, and Taiwanese En Shou Liang, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Watanuki, for his part, beat Filipino Joachim Samson, 7-5, 6-0, to move forward in the event put by PHINMA Group of Companies and sanctioned by the Philippine Tennis Association with the Philippine Sports Commission, Dunlop Fort All Court Balls, Wilkins and Viva Mineral Waters as chief backers.

Korean Sanghoon Park also joined the qualifiers’ march after overcoming a one-set deficit to turn back Filipino Vince Russel Salas, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

The main draw fires off today with Week 1 double-winner Shiori Fukuda of Japan (girls singles and doubles) and girls’ top seed Chihiro Muramatsu and No. 1 ranked and boys’ singles champion Wei-De Lin of Chinese Taipei bannering the field.