Double winners Maria Judy Ann Padilla and Janmarie Anghag gave local tennis fans reasons to celebrate at the recent Cebuana Lhuillier Age-Group Tennis Championship Series leg in Ozamiz City, even as visiting players dominated the other categories in the tournament that attracted the series’ biggest number of entries this year at 244.
Padilla was very impressive as she posted similar straight-set victories over different opponents, en route to winning two individual titles.
She took the measure of Lanao del Norte’s Kimberlyn Vosotros, 6-3, 6-0, for the girls’ 12-under crown, then followed it up with a 6-0, 6-3 win over another Lanao del Norte bet Kristin Guia Margarette Bandolis to take the 14-under crown in the tournament backed by Dunlop as the official ball.
Anghag, meanwhile, retired Zamboanga del Norte’s Ma. Maxiel Rica Labrador after taking the first set, 6-4, to take home the girls’ 18-under title and together with Carmeville Gervacio also took the girls’ 18under doubles’ crown.
“We are very happy with the record turnout of entries in Ozamiz City for this leg. It shows that provincial players are looking forward not only to this leg, but to the other provincial legs as well, a good sign for local tennis,” said Cebuana Lhuillier Group President/CEO Jean Henri Lhuillier, who initiated this grassroots tennis program 12 years ago.
Another double winner was Heinz Asian Carbonilla from Maranding, Lanao del Norte as he copped the boys’ 12-under crown, beating Penshoppe Mari Erquita from Zamboanga del Sur, 6-0, 6-1, in the finals, then teamed up with erstwhile rival Brent Signmond Cortes for an 8-4 win over Ashton Benne Vilklanueva and Dwayne Russel Daarol for the boys’ 14-under doubles’ crown.
Other familiar names, who emerged winners were Oroquieta City’s Nash Agustines, who thwarted Carbonilla’s attempt to win a third tile in the boys’ 14-under, as Agustines beat Carbonilla, 6-2, 6-3, and Dipolog City’s Stephen Zion Guia, who went home with both the boys’ 16-under and 18-under crowns as he defeated Richard Bautista in two sets, 6-1, 6-4, in the finals of the 16-under, then was extended by John Steven Sonsona from Lanao del Norte, 6-4, 1-6, 10-4, in the championship match in the 18-under.
Labrador, the losing finalist in the girls’ 18-under, consoled herself with her 6-1, 6-1 victory earlier over Siquijor’s Ellaine Rose Bahonsua for the 16-under crown, while Janue Matthew Rosales from Misamis Oriental, a triple winner in the previous leg in Camiguin, could only win one title this time–the 10-under unisex title with a 5-4, 4-1 victory over Garlandson Ardiente from Zamboanga del Norte.