Tierro bows to Indian rival in Olivarez Cup

MANILA, Philippines - PJ Tierro’s Cinderella run came to a crashing halt as he fell to eighth seed Karunuday Singh of India, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, in the semifinals of the $15,000 Olivarez-Cup-Philippine International Men’s Tennis Championship at the Rizal Tennis Center yesterday.

A day after bringing down fourth pick Roberto Ortega-Olmedo of Spain with a gripping 6-1, 6-7(2), 7-6(5) win the day before, Tierro, 27, played flat at the start but came charging back in the second set to level the count.

After holding serve the first four games of the third and final set for a two-all deadlock, Tierro blew two breakpoints as Singh fought his way back and unloaded crisp forehands that pushed the Filipino to unforced errors to hold.

Singh, a regular campaigner in the International Tennis Federation circuit with a 486th ranking, then broke Tierro on the sixth game to seize a 4-2 lead, which was all the Indian needed to take the fight out the latter, whose last 10 shots went long, wide or straight to the net.

“It was a mental breakdown in my part,” said Tierro.