It was a battle to the last point as Reem Riviera-Uricane’s mettle was tested by Saudia Catering in their LMX encounter and Reem had to work extra hard to win via super tie-break 13-12 after finishing the regular sets deadlocked at 2-2 (26-26).

SS Black Tigers finished the eliminations at 3-1 following a win against Flexpack to in category B2 to secure second spot in their group while DP World Tennis Club had much to celebrate when its MMX and LMX teams won against separate opponents entering the last week of eliminations in the 5th ALBAIK Tennis Tournament 2013.

Tied at 2 sets and 26 points each, s Reem Riviera-Uricane and Saudia Catering had to call their ace players for the race to 13 do or die super tie-break. Uricane fielded Gerardo Catalan and Ronnie Organo against Catering’s Noor Halil and Keym Pangandaman. It was tied even up to 12-12 until Catalan and Organo clinched the next point to win 13-12 and secure victory for Uricane. First set was taken by Catering’s Sammy Macapaar and Farouk Salacop win an 8-7 tie-break against Edeson Jamanre and Boy Castillo. Then Uricane’s Ronnie Organo with Ali Sakay dominated the second set at 8-4 over Dr. Mohd Mounir and Mohd Kamal for a 1-1 tie. Third set saw Ricky Salazar and Gerardo Catalan win against Mohd Anas and Alex Modi for a 2-1 Uricane lead. In the fourth set, Mohd. Noor Halil with Keym Pangadaman scored an 8-3 win against Walid Batestil and Khalid Vallikatil to end four sets at 2-2 and 26-26. The win was Uricane’s fourth with a single loss against DP World giving the squad the top spot in its group in LMX category.

In category B2, SS Black Tigers upped their record to three wins against a lone defeat as they won 3-1 against Flexpack. Team captain Saleh Salem partnered Saeed Al-Ghamdi to beat Benny Oandasan and Lito Mosquera via an 8-7 tie-break in the first set which was followed by Yahya Maalouf and Mohammed Ghamdi’s 8-3 win over Macoy Hernandez and Omar Magno in the second set giving the Tigers a 2-0 lead. Yossef Gozi and Tareq Nahan then secured the match at 3-0 as they won 8-4 against Jun and Ronnie Alvarez in the third set. Flexpack’s Albert Madriaga and Jologs Lontac won 8-3 in the fourth set against Saeed Fadel and Wael Harbi to register the final score of 3-1 for Black Tigers.

DP World Tennis Club enjoyed a double courtesy of its MMX and LMX teams. DP World MMX team won 3-1 against RPM-Renegades. Taking the first set, 8-6, for DP World were Gil and Arnel Gapate against Joseph and Elly Mallari, then the second set with another 8-6 win from Dominic Dadal and Joel Chan over Alex Duma and Marlon Delfin for a 2-0 lead. The Renegades took the third set as Sev Sumaya and Jojo Dionisio stamped an 8-5 win against Danny Canoy and Choy Argarin to set up a winner take all fourth set which DP World won as team captain Conrad Matias and Lito Mosquera won 8-5 over Cromwell Marzo and Lino Bautista.

The LMX team was victorious against group leader Reem Riviera-Uricane earlier in the week. Benny Oandasan and Ferdinand Hernandez drew first blood in the first set as they went past Ricky Salazar and Boy Castillo 8-6.

In the second set, Lito Mosquera and Orlee Reyes won 8-4 against Ronnie Organo and Edison Jamandre for a 2-0 lead. In the third set, Khalid Vallikitil and Walid Batestil of Uricane sneaked an 8-7 win over Joseph Gablines and Jun Inotantes to derail DP’s victory march until the fourth set when Darrell Eltagonde and Abdul Karim Angio won 8-4 against Ali Sakay and Joe Espiritu to post the 3-1 victory for DP World Tennis Club to the delight of their sponsor Ahmed Al Amoudi.