Aussie bundles out Phl’s Cruz

MANILA, Philippines - Aussie Maddison Inglis overpowered local bet Monica Therese Cruz, 6-2, 6-1, reducing the country’s surviving entries to two in just the second day of action in the 25th Mitsubishi International Junior Championships at the Rizal Tennis Center yesterday.

The 13th-ranked Inglis dominated Cruz from start to finish to fashion out the lopsided victory and advance into the next round of the girls category of the event sponsored by Mitsubishi Motors, Phils.

The 13-year-old Cruz, who drew a bye in the opener round, thus joined a number of local bets in the sidelines, who succumbed to top-notch opposition right in the first day Tuesday.

The list included the highly-touted Alberto Lim Jr., who bowed to Hong Kit Jack Wong of Hong Kong, 6-3, 6-2.

Cruz’s defeat thus left Maia Bernadette Balce and Christyn Colleen Sioson as the two Filipino hopefuls in the weeklong event which features some of the world’s leading junior players.

Balce also drew a first round bye while Sioson edged Fil-Am Samantha Erica Gonzalo, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4), Tuesday.

Balce was playing against 15th pick Raveena Kingsley of the United States while Sioson was slugging it out with No. 2 Greetje Minnen of Belgium at presstime.

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 to 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 bowed to Sameer Kumar of the US, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3; Klintcharov yielded to 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.