MANILA, Philippines - Top seed Alex Eala and No. 2 Gea Sagandoy forged a showdown for the girls’ 12-under crown as they eased out their respective opponents in varying fashions in the 2014 First Gen-Juntaphil Metro Age Group Tennis Championships at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center late Friday.
Eala dominated Macie Carlos with a superb all-around game, fashioning out a 6-0, 6-0 triumph while Sagandoy retired Mia So after battling it out to a tight 4-4 contest in the Group I tournament sponsored by First Gen Corp. and organized by Juntaphil.
As fourth seed, Sagandoy also advanced to the semis of the 14-U section, trouncing Megan Reyes, 6-2, 6-4, to seal a duel with No. 2 Chloe Mae Saraza, who booted out Dana Abad, 6-2, 6-2, in the event sanctioned by the Philippine Tennis Association (Philta) and backed by Wilson as the official ball.
No. 1 Rafaella Villanueva also breezed through the Final Four with a 6-0, 6-0 romp over Bea de Ocampo while unranked Arthur Craig Pantino wore down No. 7 Vincent Alanis in a closely-fought first set duel then reasserted his might to hack out a 7-5, 6-1 decision and barge into the semis of the boys’ 16-U division.
No. 8 Justine Prulla also upended Emmanuel Fuellas, breaking the fourth-ranked bet once in both sets for a 6-4, 6-4 victory but will face John Bryan de Casa next after the second seeded bet foiled Elijah Arevalo, 6-1, 6-3,
No. 2 Marcus del Rosario, meanwhile, overpowered Alex Bulilan, 6-0, 6-0 to cruise into the finals of the 14-U class.
No. 1 Miguel Vicencio rebounded from a second set meltdown and dominated Shant Naguit in the decider, scoring a 4-2, 2-4, 4-0 win to arrange a showdown with Samuel Nuguit for the 10-unisex crown. Samuel Nuguit stunned No. 4 Edgardo Angara, 4-0, 4-1, in the other semis duel.
In the non-ranking section dubbed as the Boy Mendoza Cup, Brent So defeated Lorenzo Enriquez, 8-2, while Vincent Tenorio held off Nicolas Katigbak, 8-6, in the boys 11-U group while Annika Cruz outlasted Audine Puno, 8-5, in the girls’ 15-U category.
Keneisha Odsey also beat Puno, 8-1, in the girs’ 18-U while Rendo de Ocampo dominated Brian Amistad, 8-2, in the boys’ 18-U class.