CEBU, Philippines - The fast-rising Cebuana netter Jana Pages and Joshua Kinaadman shone the brightest among the top winners of the 18th Gullas Tennis Cup after grabbing two titles each at the end of the four-day joust yesterday at the Cebu International Tennis Centre, Inc. (CITCI) courts in Laray, Consolacion.
Pages showed she has fully recovered from an injury by sweeping the girls 16 and 18-under crowns of the annual tilt considered as the longest existing developmental tennis tourament in Southern Philippines.
Jana, whose father John Z. Pages is responsible for many breakthrough tennis events in the Queen City of the South, handily beat Elgy Dasian, 6-2, 6-0 to clinch the girls 18-under tiara.
Playing under the scorching heat of the summer sun, Pages had a tough time in the girls 16-under final. Nevertheless, she squeezed her way out to a three-set victory over the gritty Zethley Mae Alferez, 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 to crown herself a double champ.
Alferez though still has something to be proud of after she bested Shane Villareal, 6-1, 6-2, to rule the girls 14-under class.
Kinaadman, on the other hand, came up with a resounding twinkill in the same age-groups Pages reigned supreme.
Kinaadman blasted Christopher Encarnacion in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1 to lord it over in the boys 16, then hammered out a 7-5, 6-1 triumph over Marc Norman Enriquez in the boys 18 final.
It was a double whammy for Enriquez as he also fell prey at the hands of Jeffrie Jumawan, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, in the boys 21-under final.
Jumawan, thus, became the only non-Cebuano player to win a title in the PHILTA Group 2-sanctioned event.
Completing the champions' list were Gabriel Trazo, Jace Unto, and Francis Lambayan. Trazo and Unto both tamed Cesar Kristofer Salimbangon with the scores of 6-1, 2-6, 6-1 and 6-1-6-1 to snatch the unisex 10-under and boys 12 titles, while Lambayan topped the boys 14-under after crushing Clyde Dujali, 6-3, 6-1.
Mary Nathalie Cobarde and Sally Mae Siso earlier won the girls 12 and 21-under categories. (FREEMAN)