Durable Johnny Arcilla rolled to another lopsided win but second seed Jose Maria Pague needed to pounce on Ronard Joven’s cramps to barge into the semifinal round of the men’s Open singles of the PPS-PEPP Malita Open in Davao Occidental yesterday.
The top-ranked Arcilla smothered Alexis Acabo, 6-1, 6-3, after shutting down Carlos Santiago, 6-0, 6-0, and whipping Rodolfo Barquin, 6-1, 6-0, for a semis clash with John Bryan Otico, who sustained his giant-killing spree by ousting No. 4 Vicente Anasta, 7-5, 6-4, at the Malita courts.
Otico earlier bundled out fifth-ranked Eric Jed Olivarez, 6-2, 6-4, following a walkover win over Christian Angus in the first round and a 6-2, 6-2 triumph over Eric Jay Tangub.
The De la Salle-Zobel product, however, will need a lot of everything to get past the veteran Arcilla and earn a shot at the top purse of P80,000 in the event hosted by Mayor Bradly Bautista and held under the PPS-PEPP program headed by Palawan Pawnshop president/Bobby Castro.
Coming off a 7-6(4), 6-3 win over Noel Salupado in the quarters, Pague yielded in a frenzied first-set duel with Joven but fought back in the next to hack out a 6-7(6), 6-0, 2-1(ret.) win as the latter cramped out.
But Pague will still have to overcome No. 3 Charles Kinaadman, who slammed Jeleardo Amazona, 6-2, 6-2, in the Last 8 phase after easing past Nicolas Gutierrez, 6-1, 6-0, and thwarting Jude Padao, 6-3, 6-4, in the other half of the 64-player draw of the week-long tournament held in coordination with Davao Occidental Gov. Franklin Bautista.
In women’s Open singles, top seed Tenielle Madis moved into the semis with a couple of 6-0, 6-0 victories over Nina Nano and Rovie Baulete although the M’lang, Cotabato faces a formidable challenger in Elizabeth Abarquez, who escaped with a 4-6, 7-5, 11-9 decision over Lenelyn Milo before crushing Danna Abad, 6-1, 6-1.
Second seed Nichole dela Rita from Lapu-Lapu, Cebu, on the other hand, recovered from an opening set struggle and repulsed Angelie Ripdos, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, to set up a duel with No. 5 Alexei Santos, who ripped Jessica Carcueva, 6-1, 6-0, after a similar scorline win over Angela Cabaral.
The women’s singles offers P30,000 to the winner out of the total prize fund of P664,000 in the biggest event staged in Davao region also held in conjunction with its Paugnat Festival celebrations and at the same time to inspire the host city’s youngsters to get into sports.