Aslan Carbonilla wore down top seed Nash Agustines in a grueling duel, hacking out a 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 10-2 decision to snare the boys’ singles 16-and-under crown and match Judy Ann Padilla’s two-title feat in the PPS-PEPP JNY Cup national age-grouper in Molave, Zamboanga del Sur last weekend.
The 14-year-old Carbonilla’s escape win came on the heels of his emphatic 6-0, 6-1 victory over Penshoppe Erquita that saw the rising star from Maranding, Lanao del Norte drop just two games in four matches in ruling his age bracket in the Group 2 tournament presented by Dunlop.
Padilla, meanwhile, extended her run of impressive finishes by topping the girls’ 14- and 16-U divisions although she failed to match her three-title romp in Liloy, Zambo del Norte last week after bowing to Christine Gulagula in the semifinals of the premier 18-U play ruled by Sydney Enriquez.
Padilla, who also dominated the Sindangan stop of the country’s longest talent-search put up by Palawan Pawnshop headed by president/CEO Bobby Castro, trampled AJ Acabo, 6-0, 6-3, in the 14-U finals then held off Karyll Baco, 6-1, 6-4, for the 16-U trophy.
Gulagula, however, stopped her in the 18-U semis, 0-4, 5-3, 10-3, but the former fell to top seed Enriquez from Zambo del Norte, who fashioned out a 6-2, 6-0 triumph to likewise snap a string of failed bids in the premier division of the tournament sanctioned by Unified Tennis Philippines made up of PPS-PEPP, Cebuana Lhuillier, Wilson, Toby’s, Dunlop, Slazenger and B-Meg.
Other singles winners were Dipolog’s Pete Bandala (10-unisex), Garlandson Ardiente (boys’ 14-U), Pagadian City’s Nilo Ledama (boys’ 18-U), Oroquieta’s Cielo Gonzales (girls’ 12-U), while Enriquez and Baco clinched the 18-U girls’ doubles crown with Ledama and Alexis Acabo snatching the boys’ title.
Gonzales and Gulagula took the girls’ 14-U doubles title while Kale Villamar and Vinz Bering claimed the boys’ crown and Bandala and Dem Lanticse bagged the 10-unisex trophy.
Meanwhile, a busy PPS-PEPP week gets under way tomorrow (Thursday) with the simultaneous staging of the Araw ng Dabaw and the Maranding, Lanao del Norte legs. For details, call PPS-PEPP Sports Program Development director Bobby Mangunay at 0915-4046464.
