ASLAN Carbonilla and Judy Padilla fashioned out a pair of emphatic victories to share top honors in the 12-and-under play of the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala Ozamiz leg age-group tennis tournament at the Ozamiz City Tennis Club last Monday.
Carbonilla, from Maramding, Lanao, lived up to his top billing by dropping just three games, capped by a 6-0, 6-2 romp over Vince Bering in the finals while local bet Padilla trampled Angel Denopol, 6-2, 6-1, in her side of the championship in the rain-hit Group 2 tournament sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop and presented by Slazenger.
The two rising stars, however, fell short of their respective bids in the higher 14-U category as Tubod, Lanao’s Brent Cortes foiled Carbonilla, 6-4, 6-4, and Grace Gupit, also from Tubod, stunned Padilla, 6-4, 7-6(6), in the five-day event circuit backed by Asiatraders Corp. and Dunlop as official ball.
“Though they failed to complete a twinkill, Carbonilla and Padilla succeeded in creating an impact with their brand of play which we hope to enhance through our year-long, nationwide circuit,” said Palawan Pawnshop president/CEO Bobby Castro.
Padilla actually came away with two titles as she teamed up with Denopol to edge Guia Bandolis and Jedidah Gupit, 8-6, in the 14-U doubles finals. Other winners were Marie Anghag-Carmeville Gervacio and Andrei Cuevas-Vince Serino (18-U); Nash Agustines-JC Sonsona (14-U) and Janus Rosales-Kyne Solis (10-U).
Third seed Andrei Cuevas from Baroy, Lanao del Norte repulsed Eric Tangub, 7-5, 1-6, 10-4, to snare the boys’ 18-U crown while local ace Carmeville Gervacio shocked top seed Bless Coderos, 7-5, 6-3, to claim the girls’ plum in the premier division of the fourth leg of the nationwide circuit sanctioned by the Unified Tennis Philippines, made up of PPS-PEPP, Cebuana Lhuillier, Wilson, Toby’s, Dunlop, Slazenger and B-Meg.
Pagadian City’s Nilo Ledama took the boys’ 16-U title with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Cortes while Rovie Baulete from Iligan City captured the girls’ diadem with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Coderos.
Tangub City’s Kyne Solis nailed the 10-unisex crown with a tough 2-4, 4-1, 5-4(6) decision over Janus Rozales.
Meanwhile, Oroquieta City will host the fifth leg on Feb. 22-26 with Dipolog City staging the next stop on March 1-5. Listup is ongoing. For details, call PPS Sports Program Development director and event organizer Bobby Mangunay at 0915-4046464.