Cuppers sail to 2nd round over Mongolia

INCHEON, South Korea – Davis Cuppers Ruben Gonzales and Patrick John Tierro provided the spark that ignited Team Philippines’ campaign in the 17th Asian Games with easy wins over Mongolia in the team event of tennis competitions as action raged yesterday on various fronts of the metropolis.

Gonzales needed only one hour, 35 minutes to crush Munkbaatar Badrakh, 6-2, 6-3, and Tierro, the country’s top singles player, dispensed with Dunvenbayar Erdenebayar, 6-4, 6-2, to give the Philippines a 2-0 lead over Mongolia in the best-of-three series  at the Yeormul Tennis Courts. 

With the win all wrapped up, the third match, a doubles, became inconsequential but Gonzales and Treat Conrad Huey went through the motion of completing it under Asian Games rules and went on to cap the triumph with a routine 6-0, 6-0 conquest of the tandem of Baatar Oyumbat and Skhbaatar.

The win over the less-regarded Mongolians was a breeze for the Filipinos although they went through some anxious moments before they overcame the first-day jitters to win the first round match under perfect weather conditions.

“His serve was quite strong and it’s somewhat difficult for me to get into my groove at the start,” said Tierro of his opponent. “The first match is always difficult but coach said that I just have to do my thing and have fun, so that’s what I did. 

“I hit the ball the way I do, and came through with the big shots. It’s a good win.”

Tierro and company will be up against second-seeded Chinese Taipei in the round of 16, 

“We were expected to win this match but we will be the underdog in the second round because our next opponent is  defending champion Chinese Taipei,” said Tierro referring to 168th-ranked Taiwanese who are a cinch to duel for the title with top-seeded Kazakhstan.

Both teams and the other top four, including third seed Uzbekistan, fourth seed Japan, fifth seed China, sixth seed India, seventh seed Korea and eighth seed Thailand, drew a bye to the second round.

At the helm of the Chinese Taipei title-retention campaign are Chen Ti  and Lu Yen Heum, holdovers of the team that won the gold in the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China. Others on the team are Huang Liang Chi and Lee Hsin Han,  members of the team event of the 2013 East  Asian Games, a campaigner in the Wimbledon, US Open, Australian Open and ranked 131st in singles this year.

Results of the women’s team event pitting the Philippines against Korea in the first round  were not available at press time.