Arcilla, Alcantara on course for finals duel in Peugeot Philippines Tennis Open
Top seeds Johnny Arcilla and Francis Casey Alcantara are on course for a finals duel while the Cebuano netters are also valiantly defending their home turf as they advance to the next round of the ongoing Cebu leg of the Peugeot Philippines Tennis Open held at the tennis courts of the Cebu Country Club in Banilad, Cebu City.
Seed no. 1 Johnny Arcilla takes a deep breath during his match against Jaime Catteo.
After receiving a bye in the first round, Arcilla, the Philippine’s number 2 netter, cruised past Jaime Catteo, one of the unlucky Cebuano netters, in straight sets, 6-1, 6-0. Catteo had advanced to the second round via a walkover against fellow Cebuano Edwin Bacarisas.
Arcilla, a native of Butuan but now residing in Manila, will next face Cebu’s Marc Nicole Suson, who barged into the third round with a 7-6, 6-3 dismissal of Clyde Dale Bienes based in Cebu but a native of Molave, Zamboanga del sur.
Philippine no. 3 Alcantara, on the other hand, has set up a third round fight against Franklin Encarnacion of Cebu without having to lift his racket. As the tournament’s second seed, the Cagayan de Oro native received a bye in the second round and a walkover in the second round as his supposed opponent, Hector Toledano of Cebu had fallen ill.
Meanwhile, eight Cebuano netters have advanced to the next round led by Cebu’s top junior netter Jan Godfrey Seno, who ended the campaign of Zamboanga Peninsula’s no.1 player Jose Maria Pague, 6-3, 6-3, in a highly anticipated match in the second round. Both advanced to the second round via a walkover.
Other Cebuano netters who advanced to the third round are third seed Israel Abarquez, Norman Joseph Enriquez, Calvin Chung, Mike Evan Bienes, Suson and Encarnacion.
Chung was supposed to go up against another Philippine top netter, Roel Capangpangan, but the Mindanao player who is now based in Manila did not make it to Cebu City due to personal reasons.
In the distaff side, Abarquez’s younger sister—Elizabeth is leading the Cebuanos into the second round after she received a walkover against Manila’s Kimberly Keethler.
Another Cebuana, Kristin Rene Salimbangon, was not so fortunate as she bowed against Manila’s Kendies Thea Malinis, 2-6, 3-6.
The Cebu leg of the Peugeot Philippines Tennis Open will run until January 14 with the doubles event to start on January 12.
The tournament is officiated by event organizer Francisco “Pet” Santos with the help of Mario Craiz as tournament supervisor, Philippine Tennis Association Central Visayas vice president Ken Salimbangon and Jun Tabs Tabura.
ALL SMILES. Seed no. 2 Francis Casey Alcantara, organizer Francisco “Pet” Santos, seed no.1 Johnny Arcilla and organizing committee official Jun Tabura.
The Cebu leg is the 4th regional leg in this tournament with the winners of all legs to qualify for the national finals from February 15 to 21 in Metro Manila, wherein the six grand winners of the singles and doubles events will get an expense paid trip to Paris, France to watch Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams defend their French Open titles at the red clay courts of Roland Garros.
Already contested were regional legs in Cagayan de Oro, Bacolod and Nueva Ecija while the NCR leg, which will serve as the final regional leg, will be held from February 1 to 7 at the Celebrity Sports Club.
The top winners in each leg will be receiving P20,000 while the national winners will be getting P40,000. The tournament is also made possible by Smart Communications, Wilson and Total.
Peugeot is the official transport in the ATP World Tour and has been one of the major sponsors of the French Open for 32 years.
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