JEDDAH, 15 July 2003 — Fourth Seed Jovie Llevares and No, 7 Dong Sandoval were upset in the ongoing Talal ibn Mansour Tennis Cup quarterfinals of the tournament at Albilad Hotel Tennis Courts.
Filipino Llevares was stunned by sixth seed Waqar Ahmed of Pakistan, while Filipino Sandoval lost to fellow compatriot Bobby Esquivel.
Esquivel, however, did not last long as he ran into Zulfikar Ahmed of Pakistan in the next round and was sent packing 6-4, 6-2. Zulfikar’s brother Waqar, however, struggled to beat Jovie Llevares. Waqar won the first set and looked well on his way to clinch the second when Jovie caught fire and effected some fine shots to get back into the game. Waqar however refound his aggressive touch in the third to seal a fine 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory.
Two other singles matches were in progress last night — Jordanian Hani Al-Ali vs. compatriot Saleh Busnaq, and Abdulrahman Mousa (Niger) vs. Filipino Manny Valleramos.
Doubles matches of the day to follow were between Ahmed brothers — Zulfikar and Waqar vs. Al Ijran and Danny Aguinaldo; Shukri Boshar and Hatem Jawi vs. Boy Urquia and Namy Milincio.
The semifinal will be played today. Matches will be held at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Two pairs who have already reached the semifinals are Valleramos-Llevares and Al-Ali-Busnaq.
The inaugural tournament will have its doubles final on Thursday and the singles final will be played on Friday.
The singles champion will receive a Tudor watch in addition to cash prize of SR20,000. The runner-up will get a free trip to Cyprus.
The doubles winners will get a trip to London with accommodation, aside from a cash prize of SR8,000, according to Reggie Sanosa, the tournament referee of Jeddah Tennis Organization, which is staging the inaugural tournament.
