ALKHOBAR, 1 November — Alex Navarro and Benny Supleo of the Bankers Tennis Association demolished Danny Villegas of JATCO and Gabby Sandalo of King Abdulaziz Hospital 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 in the semifinals in Class B of the 2nd Telemoney Tennis Cup 2002 at the Al Gosaibi Hotel tennis courts.
The BTA fnalists duplicated their victorious campaign to reach the finals when they thrashed out Al Bustan’s Eric Salvador and Freddie Santos 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
Navarro and Supleo now await the winners in the other semifinal match fitting Manny Ramos of SkyFreight Forwarders and Conrad Jaberina of Saudi Arabian Markets against veteran Bert de Vera of Al Rushaid Compound and EEI Operations Manager Romy Lazaro.
In Class A, Saudi rising star Majeed Jaroudi and Tunisian mainstay Nasser Abbas earned a seat in the finals by dousing the hopes of Saudi National Guards Sports Director Rene Leis and former Riyadh campaigner Efren Navidad 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in the semifinals.
Jaroudi and Abbas ousted Ali Ashban of Al Saudi Al Fransi Bank and comebacking Abdul Wahab of SAP Networks, 6-2, 6-3 in round 1 and beat the heavily-favored Johnny Jocson of Al Shuwayer and Beck Corpuz of Saudi Naval Forces 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.
The contenders in the remaining Class A final slot are Benny Asilom of Western Electric with partner Jun Martin of Aramco Ras Tanura who will square it off against Arnold Samatra of Sogerep (Bell Helicopters) Ltd and Jesse Alita, a former Filipino junior tennis standout.
Meanwhile, in Class C, Hermie Cerna and Rene Portillo of ELTA reached the finals by conquering Mel Fajardo and Angel Rufo of FETA 6-0, 6-4 in the first round, Leody Bayaban of Saudi Electric Co and Willy de Lara of Saudi Ready Mix 6-4, 7-5 in the second round, Rey Perucho and Raffy Soriano of FETA 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 in the quarterfinals, and Zaldy Uson and Rey Delacion from Jubail in a clip-hanger match with the score of 6-2, 6-7, 7-6(10-8) in the semifinals.
Cerna and Portillo will meet the winners between Frank Dubluis and Ric Cellona of Saudi Catering against Class C favorites Kennedy Pacubas and Mike Cortez of FETA for the championship.
In Class D, Boy Palmares and Sonny Domaoal of Jubail United Tennis Club came from behind 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 to eliminate crowd-supported FETA duo of Butch Claro and Edgar Tisoy” Laderas in the semifinals. The Al Bustan Village Compound tandem of Jess Vibal and Russell Bobis will square off against the determined team Flor III and Bong Guzman of KFMMC for the right to challenge Palmares and Domaoal in the finals.
The Class E top half semifinals will be contested by Barry Mohammed and Mohammed Ibrahim, up and coming tennisters from Africa, representing University of Petroleum Minerals against the powerhitting Al Juffali Compound hopefuls, computer executive Danny Cenil and newcomer Randy Regalla. The lower half of the draw will be a toss up between the waiting KFMMC pair of Lopez/Tamano and the winners of the quarterfinal match of Efren Roman and Rommel Aguiluz of ELTA opposite Ed Rodriguez and Rey Lorica also from ELTA.
The main sponsor of this 14th year BTA organized tennis tournament is Telemoney Remittance Center managed by Arab National Bank in cooperation with Rizal Banking Corporation and the Philippine National Bank headed by Mohammed Al Aswad, Telemoney Operations Manager in the Eastern Region.
Cathay Pacific Airways, co-sponsor for the past ten years thru BTA President Rene Icasiano, will be giving away, again, two round trip tickets to Manila, of which one will be raffled to participants of the 2nd Telemoney Cup and the other to the spectators during the awarding ceremonies at the Al Gosaibi Hotel tennis courts.
Also supporting the tournament are Chowking, a world class restaurant under Filipino entrepreneurship specializing in Chinese lauriat, particularly congee, dimsun, and international fastfoods with play station for family entertainment; and Al Hoty Est represented by Ernie Maderal.
