Loyola, three others go all the way

Peter Loyola, Nanding Cajigan, Cris Nelson, and Doi Ligan were all in a hurry and wrapped up their finals matches in the 2nd Annual Taga Tennis Tournament with still time to spare Tuesday evening at the American Memorial Park tennis courts.

Loyola completed his sweep of three of the Top 4 seeds in the men’s open by downing No. 4 Ji Hoon Heo in straight sets.

The 36-year-old Triple J Motors employee earlier beat third-seed Jung Mun Chung in the first round and then sent No. 1 Daniel Son packing in the semifinals. Heo took care of second seed Lito Cabrera in the semis of the upper half of the bracket.

Loyola, who played collegiate ball at San Beda College in the Philippines, showed little effects of his exhausting match against Son the evening before.

He dominated the youth netter early and often, busting out to a big lead and won the opening set convincingly. Heo still had no answers for Loyola’s punishing topspin forehands from the baseline. It also didn’t help that Heo couldn’t seem to hold his serve as unforced errors continued to pile up for the youngster.

In the end, Loyola put Heo out of his misery, 6-3, 6-1, to cap his brilliant run in the tournament with yet another division championship.

Two weeks earlier, Loyola paired with Roy Pangelinan to take home the men’s open doubles crown after the top-ranked duo defeated Son and Lito Cabrera in the finals.

Prior to that, Loyola also annexed the men’s doubles 4.5 trophy, pairing with Hector Benitez to upend No. 1 seeds Pangelinan and Dino Jones.

Loyola is not yet done and has a chance for a rare grand slam—four championships in a tournament—if he pulls off a win in the finale of the mixed doubles open.

The championship of that division began late Tuesday evening but was called off early in the third set because of rain. At the time of the postponement, Loyola and his partner Cleofe Santos led Son and his partner Kayo Ishii in, 1-0, in the rubber set.

Cajigan, meanwhile, succeeded where his better-half failed, going all the way in the men’s 4.5 division after pulling off an upset of sorts against favored Boyet Minor.

Cajigan had Minor in the defensive the entire match and continued the trend of lopsided finals scores with a 6-3, 6-2 triumph. Last Monday, Ayumi Cajigan finished runner-up behind Karen Ramsey in the women’s 3.0 division of the tournament.

Nelson, meanwhile, has his new passion finally pay dividends, as he crowned himself champion in men’s 4.0 following a straight sets beat-down of surprise finalist Father Ryan Jimenez.

The KMCV news director gave Jimenez no quarters in the opening set and won via a sweep. Jimenez tried to make a comeback in the second, taking two games off of Nelson but still lost the match 6-0, 6-2.

Ligan, for his part added the singles 3.0 crown to his men’s doubles championship in the same division after overcoming top seed Gary Ramsey in another straight-sets win. The pride of Tinian did his home island proud by defeating the No. 1 seed, 6-1, 6-0.

The championship of the mixed 4.0 was also decided Tuesday evening with the brother-and-sister tandem of Reo and Mayuko Arriola reigning supreme opposite Richard Asuncion and Delia Johnson, 6-4, 6-3.

Tourney organizer, Saipan Tennis Association, would like to remind members and participants that the awards banquet for the 2nd Annual Taga Tennis Tournament would be held tomorrow, Dec. 17, 6pm at Hot City in San Jose.

Pacific Trading Co. and Miller Lite are the main sponsors of the 2nd Annual Taga Tennis Tournament with USS Peleliu Club and Yuichiro’s Printing Design as minor sponsors.

For more information about the 2nd Annual Taga Tennis Tournament, please call STA president Roy 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. Inquiries can also be coursed via email at saipan_tennis@yahoo.com.