JEDDAH: The 18th Astec Team Tennis Tournament reached its penultimate stage at the Al Bilad Hotel and Sheraton Hotel courts, with RSTP (Red Sea Tennis Players), playing under the banner of Jollibee, dominating the finals in all four categories and will square off with JRTC in Category C, Lacoste in B2, and Jeddah International School Tennis Club in Category B1.
In Category C Jollibee had to go through a tiebreaker against team Gate in the first two sets which it both won 8-7 (7-5), 8-7 (8-6). The third set was easily won 8-5 by Agot delas Alas and Ramon to clinch the first finals berth. JRTC (Jeddah Ranao Tennis Club) had to endure a deciding 5th set against Smash Magic, 3-2, to set up a finals clash against RSTP in Category C.
JRTC did not have the same luck in Category B2 when it lost against JBTP (Jeddah Base Tennis Player), playing under the banner of Lacoste, 3-1.
In the first set the tandem of Danny Natangcop and Al Manarondong demolished JBTP’s Lito Mosquera and Sev Sumaya, 8-1. In the first singles match Yousef Tharwat of JBTP took the better of Sajid Usman 8-4 to level the set 1-all. The third set was a test of nerves with no pair willing to let go as the pair of Gerry Nazaire and Noel de Guzman took the upper hand at 7-6, with the next game won by Kim Guro and Tuffs Laguindab, to force a tie-breaker, which was eventually won by the former 8-6. In the other Category B2 semifinals match, Omar Magno, Shelter Tennis Club team captain played his best tennis of the tournament alongside partner Allen Arriesgado to hold off Randy Martin and Tonton Panna and gain the upper hand 7-5.
However, Shelter-Simpex wasted a first-set set-point at 7-6, when the youthful Allen hit an overhead smash which was luckily returned by Tonton of RSTP-Jollibee, lobbing the ball at the baseline to bring the game to deuce. Shelter lost the set in a tiebreaker 7-8 (4-7).
The second set was equally exciting between tennis buddies Carl Abat of RSTP and Alain Arriesgado of Shelter, which was won by the latter 8-7 (7-2), to bring the scorecard at one set apiece. Jollibee easily took the third and fourth sets to claim the other finals berth and face Lacoste in Category B2 finals.
Astec team was not lucky in its quest for a finals slot in B1, the highest category at stake, when it failed to convert its advantage in the first two sets of the best-of-five-sets semifinals match against JISTC. After leading 7-6 in regular game, Astec’s Nilo Salvedia and Leo Perez lost the set 7-8 (4-7) to Sanny Valencia and Dennis Miralles of JIS.
Nilo’s eagerness to gain the upper hand in the tiebreak by smashing an easy ball backfired when his racquet touched the net and gave away the point to the opponent. The hope to equalize the match also vanished in the second set when Astec’s Zahran Khan squandered a set point at 7-6 (40-30) to bring the game to deuce and eventually lost in another tiebreaker with similar score 7-8 (4-7) against Rene Jamilla. Cesar Panti and Rudill Mative of JIS did not give a chance to their opponents to catch up and blasted their way 8-3 in the third set, to bring their team to the finals of Category B1 against the much-vaunted veteran players of RSTP-Jollibee.
In the Ladies Division, Smash Magic Mixed Division blasted its way to the finals of Super Mix-A with a straight sets 8-2, 8-4 victory over Zuhair Fayez. In the other semifinals match, the doubles pair of Winston Tadeo and Edma Ladion took the deciding third set 8-6 to put JIS-Edma team in the finals against Smash Magic.
The tournament, which attracted 60 teams in both the ladies and men’s division, is co-sponsored by M. A. Al Samman Est., Sky Freight Forwarders and The Filipino Channel.
