MARIELLE Jarata racked up two titles in emphatic fashions while Exequiel Jucutan upended his fancied rivals in the boys’ side of the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala Baguio leg tennis tournament at the Baguio Tennis Club in Burnham Park last Monday.
Jarata, from Agoo, La Union, overpowered Prince Lim, 4-0, 4-1, to dominate the 10-unisex division then moved one rung higher and crushed Dynna Visaya, 6-0, 6-0, for the 12-U crown of the Group 2 tournament that drew close to 200 players from Pangasinan, Laoag, Vigan, La Union, Tarlac and Laguna.
Jucutan, on the other hand, stunned top seed Andre Jarata, 6-3, 6-3, to snare the boys’ 14-U title then the rising Pangasinan star turned back second seed Dale Cuevas, 6-1, 5-7, 10-8, in the 16-U finals of the four-day championship sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop and presented by Slazenger.
“These two players’ feats impress us the most and we hope to produce more of their kind through our year-long, nationwide talent-search, which has now reached north,” said Palawan Pawnshop president/CEO Bobby Castro.
Denise Bernardo came all the way from Los Baños, Laguna to blast Angela Tangalin, 6-3, 6-1, and claim the girls’ 18-U plum while local bet and No. 3 Joshua De Guzman thwarted Charles Torres, 6-3, 6-4, in finals of the boys’ premier side of the event sponsored by local backer Erge Consultants and supported by the Unified Tennis Philippines, including PPS-PEPP, Cebuana Lhuillier, Wilson, Toby’s, Dunlop, Slazenger and B-Meg.
The local girls also stamped their class with Sharry Caluza foiling top seed Bernardo’s bid for a second diadem with a 6-4, 6-1 victory in the 16-U finals and the top-seeded Angeline Atos crushing Adriana Cabahug, 6-1, 6-1, for the 14-U title.
Pangasinan’s Justin Erpelo shared the spotlight by upsetting top seed JT Bernardo, 6-0, 6-3, for the boys’ 12-U crown while Bernardo teamed up with Anna Demyer to cop the girls’ 18-U doubles title with an 8-6 win over Caluza and Tangalin and Lawrence Bongato and Justin de Guzman took the boys’ plum via the same scoreline over Vergel Callanta and Charles Torres.
Other doubles winners were Adriana Cabahug-Tristen Kitong (girls’ 14-U), Bernardo and Jarata (boys’ 14-U crown) and Kris Lim and JP Lim (10-U).