Kimi Brodeth and Mcleen Gomera pulled off a win and runner-up finish each and split MVP honors in the PPS-PEPP national age group tennis circuit for the second straight week in the City of Naga leg in Cebu over the weekend.
Brodeth bucked a lackluster opening set game then wore down Judy Ann Padilla in the decider to pound out a 0-6, 6-2, 10-2 victory for her third straight triumph in the girls’ 16-and-under class following her romps in the Lapu Lapu City and Mandaue City legs of the four-leg swing of the country’s longest talent-search in Cebu.
The Ormoc City lass, however, missed matching her golden double feat in Mandaue as Lapu-Lapu City’s Tiffany Nocos got back at her with a 6-2, 4-6, 10-4 reversal in the premier 18-U category of the Group 1 tournament put up by Palawan Pawnshop president/CEO Bobby Castro.
Meanwhile, the Cebu leg of the circuit, backed by ProtekTODO, PalawanPay, the Unified Tennis Philippines and UTR (Universal Tennis Rating), winds up in Consolacion, Laray starting Thursday. For details, contact Bobby Mangunay at 0915-4046464.
Gomera likewise re-asserted his mastery of the boys’ 16-U field, blasting Benedict Lim, 6-1, 6-1, in the finals although the Bacolod, Lanao del Norte fell short of his 18-U title bid, absorbing another 6-2, 6-1 defeat from last week’s tormentor John David Velez, also from Ormoc.
Sharing the top podium finish were Juliana Tenepre from Mandaue, and Ormoc’s Renante Bravo in the 14-U division, and Ma. Caroliean Fiel from Ormoc and Cabanatuan’s Lexious Cruz in the 12-U class of the week-long tournament marked by a couple of reversals.
The unranked Tenepre flashed top form as she shocked top seed Joy Ansay, 7-5, 5-7, 10-1, in the semis then upended No. 3 Kate Imalay from Danao, Cebu, 2-6, 6-3, 10-3, while the top ranked Bravo routed Tayasan, Negros’ Kurt Barrera, 6-3, 6-1.