Top seeds rise and fall

It was a tough day in the office for top seeds in the opening day of the 2nd Annual Taga Tennis Tournament Wednesday night at the American Memorial Park tennis courts.

While Kazumi Imai and Yuko Kobayashi and Jorge Olanda and Edwin Maratas, top seeds in the women’s open and men’s 4.0, respectively, narrowly escaped the upset axe, the executioner’s noose went around men’s 3.0 No. 1 Richard Brostrom and Gary Ramsey.

Brostrom and Ramsey struggled the entire game and eventually surrendered a 6-4, 6-1 loss to giant killers Mario Buensuceso and Mahito Tanaka.

Other matches in the division saw Noel Dognidon team up with Ruben Leynes to drop Hiob Ngirachemoi and Ferdinand Ngirmekur 6-1, 6-2; Massimo Flouti and Cristophe Bertin advance by default; Yesman Gurung and Hom Roka defeat Ed Casing and Daffy Llaban 6-3, 6-4; and Roy Banados and Manny Jaraplasan outlast Ramon Angeles and Roly Dias 2-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1.

Olanda and Maratas survived to fight another day but the longtime buddies probably feel fortunate that they were able to pull this out from the fire. The duo had plenty in their hands when they went up against lanky netters Michael Roberts and Rommel Tiosejo. In fact, they lost the first set before scrambling in the next two to triumph 5-7, 6-3, 7-5.

Imai and Kobayashi also escaped a tough three-setter when they went up against youngsters Mayuko Arriola and Vivian Lee. The youth netters wanted to prove that the future was now and did a number against their older counterparts in the first set, But Imai and Kobayashi regrouped quickly and won the next two to salvage the win 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

The only other men’s 4.0 match of the evening had fourth seeds Renato “Dodong” Espanola and Dr. Alberto “Bert” Ventura survive Tony Santos and Jess Pacheco 7-5, 6-3. Pacheco’s tank probably was running on empty after serving as referee earlier in the 2004 Government Basketball League.

Men’s 4.5, meanwhile, saw another minor upset when ex-collegiate standout Peter Loyola and Hector Benitez eliminated third seed Richard Asuncion and Gerald Narciso in a count of 6-0, 6-3.

Earlier, Saipan Tennis Association president Roy Pangelinan thanked Pacific Trading and its general manager Charles Cepeda for again agreeing to sponsor the tournament during a short opening ceremony. He said Cepeda told him in a meeting that PTC would always support STA and its programs as long as he serves as general manager of the company.

Cepeda excused himself from the opening ceremony but sent Guttierez, who gamely tossed the ceremonial first serve. Aside from Pacific Trading, the tournament is also being sponsored by USS Peleliu Club and Yuichiro’s Printing Design.

For more information about the 2nd Annual Taga Tennis Tournament, please call Pangelinan at 256-7769, vice president-internal Nelia Luna at 288-5151 or 287-0859, vice president-external Ricky Castro at 234-7426, and officers Richard Asuncion at 287-0856, Babu Malayil at 286-9745, and Lope Padilla at 286-9733. Those interested can also email STA at Saipan_tennis@yahoo.com.