Cruz gets the boot in Mitsubishi juniors tennis

MANILA, Philippines – Monica Therese Cruz was shown the door by 13th seed Maddison Inglis of Australia, 6-2, 6-1, reducing the country's surviving entries to two in the 25th Mitsubishi International Junior Championships at the Rizal Tennis Center Wednesday.

The 13-year-old Cruz, who made it past this round after drawing an opening round bye, was one of the only three remaining Filipinas standing after the slew of Phl bets all succumbed to the strong foreign challenge right on the first round.

Cruz's defeat left Maia Bernadette Balce and Christyn Colleen Sioson the responsibility of carrying the fight for a country seeking to reinvigorate the state of Phl tennis.

Balce likewise drew a first round bye while Sioson posted the lone win by a local a bet in this weeklong tournament after she edged Fil-Am Samantha Erica Gonzalo, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4), Tuesday.

Balce was playing 15th pick Raveena Kingsley of the United States while Sioson No. 2 Greetje Minnen of Belgium at press time.

Meanwhile, upsets rocked the boys' division as five seeded players were booted out, including No. 2 Ken Onishi of Japan, who absorbed a shock 6-4, 6-1 defeat at the hands of Mandresy Rakotomala of France.

Also ousted were No. 12 Lin Wei De and No. 16 Lo Chien Hsun of Chinese Taipei, No. 11 Alexander Klintcharov of New Zealand and No. 13 Daniel Nolan of Australia.

Lin lost to wild card Sharmal Dissanyake of Sri Lanka, 6-4, 6-1; Lo was trounced by Sameer Kumar of the US, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3; Klintcharov was overwhelmed by Rhet Purcell of Great Britain, 6-0, 6-2; and Nolan absorbed a 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 decision to Jack Van Slyke of Canada.