JEDDAH, 4 July 2003 — NCB team cut short RR’s fairy tale success and demolished them en route to the finals of the Seiko Team Tennis Challenge at the Al Bilad Hotel and Sheraton Hotel tennis courts. The highly seeded Henry Sarmiento and Rod Madla thumped Bob Palma and Bob Sambrayan 8-4. Ramil Adrayan and Peddy Enriquez followed suit with an 8-5 bashing of Serge Taga and Edwin Agullana to take an early 16-9 lead.
Rey Lacsina and Mikko Calauag combined efforts in defeating Rico Reyes and Nestor Sorosoro 8-4. Dario Padere and Sev Sumaya were beaten 6-8 by Ramon Moreno and Ramon Caruana.
Meanwhile, KAIA continue their dominance on court as they overpowered SG-Hartz in straight sets. Gani Gasconia and Obet Vizcarra combined baseline accuracy and net plays in overpowering Eric de Chavez and Joey Manalo 8-5. Jess Ruivivar and Willy Dimaano were fully in control of the game against Gerry Nazaire and Bong Siquijor for a 8-3 score. Roel Consumo and Nilo Salvedia beat Sonny Velasco and Bong Nigoes 8-3.
Aye Lodor and Ben Briola finally sealed victory when Loret Sanchez and Boy Isuga conceded defeat early in the set with the score standing at 3-2 just enough for KAIA netters to finally claim victory and a place in the finals. Prior to their semifinal match, RR defeated Astec 30-22, NCB lambasted Zuhair Fayez & Partnership 32-25, KAIA dislodge Titan 30-17 and SG defeated Itec-Arcoma 32-24.
This two months tournament is principally sponsored by Al Hussaini & Co., the exclusive distributor of Seiko watches in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with ABS-CBN The Filipino Channel and Friends of AFTPA as co-sponsors. It is being organized and managed by the All Filipino Tennis Players Association (AFTPA) under the auspices of the Philippine Consulate General.
In Category C, RR delivered surprises anew by posting a straight sets victory against SG-Tropicana Slim. The first doubles saw Bert Penpena and Edwin Agullana beat Rolly Laparan and Joe Agregado 8-4. Johnny and Joel too won. SG crashed when Allan Basa and Lando Roman were beaten 1-8. With RR leading 24-9, all what Ramon Moreno and Ding needed are just two games to finally seal the match, which they did.
In another semifinal match, SPTC/Astec won an epic match against NCB. Muriel Echano and Ali Sakay played cohesively to beat Jonathan and Edgar 8-2. With Rene Palad and Alex Seina on the second, they swept to a 16-2 lead when Tariq who was paired with Andy Bernabe failed to show up for a automatic 8-0.
A sudden turn of events followed when SPTC’s Jun and Vice won 8-2 against Jun Casio and Rusty Napone. Roy Laguda and Jun Casio failed to produce results when they were blanked by Salah and Raul Valle to even the score at 16 games all.
A scintillating fifth set ensued with Flor Ponce and Egay delos Reyes converting their first serve. SPTC’s Alex and Rading took the next three games in succession to lead 3-1 but with the NCB tandem holding serve and breaking Rading’s NCB took the next three games to regain the lead at 5-3.
The SPTC pair quickly recovered and took the next three games to regain control at 6-4 but in NCB fought back, taking the next three games to lead anew at 7-6 but Rading managed to hold serve on the 14th game to forge a nerve-wrecking tie breaker. Both teams managed to hold serves in a see-saw battle till the SPTC tandem prevailed 8-7 (9-7) score to finally win the match and a finals slot.
Earlier, NCB drubbed Green Farms 28-24 to deny them entry into the semis. SG displaced Batang Industrial with a 34-24 finish. Astec sent G-Force packing with a 39-21 output while RR dismembered Cabalen 26-17. In the category B1 semifinal matches, APO came out victors against Sportstura with a 32-15 final tally while SG-Hartz emerged the winner against ASTEC 32-18.
