THE Philippines settled for fourth place the under-16 Junior Fed Cup Asia/Oceania pre-qualifying tournament at the Sri Lanka Tennis Center in Colombo last Saturday.
They took a 1-2 loss to Mongolia in the battle for fourth, and this allowed them to come up with their best showing in the weeklong meet.
Patricia Lim scored the only win for the Philippines after she downed Nomin Khurelbaatar, 6-3, 6-0.
Then Angelica Alcala took a 2-6, 6-7(3) setback from Maralgoo Chogsomjav in the second singles.
Later, Lim and Gaby Zoleta absorbed a 6-1, 4-6, 8-10 beating from Chogsomjav and Khurelbaatar in the doubles.
Team Pilipinas reached the semifinals and then took a 0-3 loss to Sri Lanka, 0-3, last Friday.
In that game, Zoleta lost to Anjalika Kurera, 0-6, 0-6, in the first singles match, while Ma. Patricia Lim absorbed a 2-6, 1-6 defeat from Savini Jayasuriya in the second singles match.
Zoleta and Angelica Alcala fell to Kurera and Oneli Perera, 1-6, 1-6, in the doubles match. Peter Atencio
Sri Lanka and Singapore have earned the first two tickets in the final qualifying tournament to be held in Kuching, Sarawak on April 16-21.
Meanwhile, the Philippine boys’ team of Michael Francis Eala II, Jose Antonio Tria, and Matthew Anton Garcia will see action in the Junior Davis Cup final qualifying event on April 9-14, also in Kuching.
The final qualifying events in Sarawak will select the teams that will advance to the Junior Davis and Fed Cup Finals in Budapest, Hungary in September.
Last week, Colombo City also hosted the pre-qualifying match of the Under-14 World Juniors Tennis Championships Asia/Oceania Zonal competition.
The Philippine team composed of Marc Andrei Jarata, Axl Lajon Gonzaga, and Rupert Ohrelle Tortal finished fifth after beating Kuwait, 3-0.
The four teams that advanced to the final qualifying event in Nonthaburi, Thailand were Sri Lanka and Qatar (boys), and Lebanon and Malaysia (girls). The boys’ competition is scheduled on March 26-31, while the girls’ tournament will be on April 2-7.
The winners of the final qualifying will advance to the ITF World Junior Tennis Championships Finals slated to be held in Prostejov, Czech Republic on August 6-11.