Iglupas, Horie open bid for Phinma sweep

MANILA, Philippines - Local ace Khim Iglupas and Toru Horie of Japan hope to sustain their good run of form as they kick off their drive for another crown in the Phinma-PSC International Juniors Tennis Championships – Week 2 unfolding today at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

Iglupas, 16, overpowered Rifanty Kahfiani of Indonesia, 6-2, 6-4, to bag the girls’ singles crown while Horie took the boys’ plum with a 6-2, 7-5 win over compatriot Yunosuke Tanaka in last Sunday’s finals of Week 1 of the Grade 4 ITF (International Tennis Federation) 18-Under category event sponsored by the Phinma Group of Companies, Philippine Sports Commission and Mariposa Foundation.

But the 31 other players in the respective draws will be going all-out to foil the duo’s sweep bid, including Kahfiani and Tanaka and a host of others trying to barge their way into the main draw through the qualifiers of the event.

They include Taiwan’s Ting Chieh Wei, who eased out Japanese Nanako Tazaki, 6-1, 7-6(4), to join compatriot Fan Chiang, Japanese Yu Fujioka, Nayu Ikeuchi and Takako Aikawa and Thais Thasaporn Naklo and P. Sukkanha and Canadian Cassie Chung in the Last 8 phase of the two-day elims. Sanctioned by the Philippine Tennis Association and backed by Asiatraders Corp for the Dunlop balls.