JEDDAH: Issham International-Uricane narrowly defeated SCTC 2(26)-2(24) posting its second win to finish eliminations with a 2-1 win-loss record and grab category B2 Group 1 No. 2 for the next round in the 7th ALBAIK Tennis Tournament 2015 played nightly at the sprawling courts of Trio Ranch Country Club on the outskirts of Jeddah.

SSS Black Tigers, meanwhile, kept their hopes alive of advancing to the next round with a win against Tetra-Pak 2-2 (28-21) in their category B1 encounter. Category LMX is still a wide open race as ASTEC-DELTAZ won over Al-Madinah Printing 3-1 in the continuation of the elimination rounds.

Issham International’s Uricane enjoyed a fast start taking the first two sets with Tuffs Laguindab and Anuar Laguindab scoring an 8-2 win in the 1st set against SCTC’s Joel Sacal and Ernie Capito followed by Boy Castillo’s 8-6 conquest of Albert Ramirez in the 2nd set singles. SCTC’s Ramil Abdua and Amin Paraji, however, countered in the 3rd set to win 8-3 against Ronnie Organo and Joe Espiritu providing an opening for SCTC to tie the match and possibly win. But Uricane’s Nilo Borata and Egay Go would not let this happen as they fought hard and brought the 4th set to tie-break at 7-7 which made them statistically the winner on points even though the set was won by Rowell Cuasay and Michael Landrito at 8-7 making the final tally of 2-2 (26-24) in favor of Uricane-Issham International. Uricane’s LMX category team was not as successful though as it lost against SOFTC when their match ended at 2-2 after four sets with a tied score of 23-23. Based on rules a super tiebreak had to be played to break the deadlock which SOFTC won at 12-8.

In the B1 category, SSS Black Tigers fought tooth and nail in the 1st set as Saleh Salem and Mohammed Al Ghamdi bested Tetra-Pak’s Lito Dare and Bibit Dela Torre at 8-5 then with a stroke of luck Tigers Yayha Maalof won by default against Ahmed Aref who did not show up on the scheduled time to log an 8-0 win and post a commanding 2-0 lead with an eleven points advantage in the scores. Tetra-Pak tried to get back in the match as Marlon Delfin and Lito Homol won the 3rd set via a tie-break 8-7 against Tarek Annahari and Malek Al Zahrani and also took the 4th set with Loi Escabusa and Fred Masangkay teaming up to beat Ali Asgar and Yousef Al Gozi with an 8-5 set. This put the match at 2-2 sets but Black Tigers led the scores at 28-21 and were declared the winners.

In another category LMX encounter, ASTEC-Deltaz broke into the win column after two tries when it won against Al-Madinah Printing & Publication via a 3-1 score. Marlon Pagsanjan and Jhun Delos Reyes drew first blood with win over Jojo Alipante and Lito Patriarca 8-3 . This was followed in the 2nd set with an 8-2 win by Cats Catalan and Jeremy Conrado over Jhojo Lontac and Ruben Dunque. Al Madinah took the 3rd set with Darryl and Harlie Conchas winning against Romy Sorra and Ed Forrosuelo. But ASTEC team captain Jun Atienza would not let the team slip as he partnered with Alito Macadat to command the 4th set and win at 8-3 against Ronnie Alvarez and Obet Arpon for a final score of 3-1.

Organized by t Association of Tennis Clubs in Jeddah (ASTEC) under the helm of its current chairman Bernie Soguilon and Tournament Director Tonton Pana, this 28th ASTEC team tennis tournament is presented in partnership with ALBAIK Food Systems Co. Ltd. represented by Bassam Al-Seyofi (PR-manager), Ed Cabiedes (branch manager) and Ms. Mazza Farajallah (Corporate Social Responsibility coordinator) and is supported by Deltaz Marketing (Racquet Shop), Sky Freight Forwarders and Pepsi Cola.