JOHN Velez and Macie Carlos fashioned out two victories each to become the first winners on the new season of the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala age-group tennis tournament at the Colegio San Agustin in Bulacan recently.
Velez trounced Kenny Sing, 6-3, 6-1, to capture the boys’ 14-and-under crown then the Davao ace trampled Joshua Molina, 6-1, 6-2, in the 16-U finals while Carlos went two divisions up to stun Rafaella Villanueva, 6-0, 6-2, and snare the girls’ 18-U diadem in the first PPS-PEPP Fr. Fernando Suarez Cup.
The 13-year-old Carlos from the Keys School Manila also took the 16-U plum with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Gab Zoleta to share the MVP honors with Velez, one of the MCTA (Macs Crankit Tennis Academy) of Australia-sponsored players, in the Group I tournament held in honor of the healing priest and presented by Asiatraders Corp. with Slazenger and Dunlop as official balls.
Other winners were Urdaneta’s John Lim, Joshua Diva of QC, Ateneo’s Manuel Balce II, Cagayan de Oro’s Casey Padilla and local ace Jenaila Prulla.
Lim ruled the 10-unisex with a 4-2, 4-1 win over Hadassa Pascua; Diva crushed Carson Bagadiong, 6-2, 6-2, for the 12-U diadem; while Balce, a Grade 12 Ateneo student and former member of the national junior Davis Cup team who earned an athletic scholarship at Eastern Washington U, fended off EJ Tugade, 62, 6-4, for the 18-U crown.
“It’s quite fulfilling to see young players like Carlos and Velez winning titles way above their age level. By providing them year-round, ranking tournaments makes them better, tougher and ready to slug it out with players in higher age-groups,” said Palawan Pawnshop president/CEO Bobby Castro.
Padilla, on the other hand, dominated Marielle Jarata, 6-0, 6-1, for the girls’ 12-U title while Prulla saved the day for the hosts by beating Julia Ignacio, 6-0, 6-2, and clinching the 14-U plum in the event sanctioned by the Unified Tennis Philippines, made up of PPS-PEPP, Cebuana Lhuillier, Wilson, Toby’s, Dunlop, Slazenger and B-Meg.
Velez actually made it a three-title feat as he teamed up with Sing to pocket the 14-U doubles crown via an 8-3 romp over JT Bernardo and Andrei Jarata. Other doubles winners were Alexie Jarata-Prulla (gir;s’ 14-U), Denise Bernardo-Miles Vitaliano (girls’ 18-U), Ramon Bentillo-Klyde Lagarde (boys’ 18-U), and Prince Lim-Roque Lim (10-U).