30 teams see action in doubles, mixed doubles

The 5th Annual Coca-Cola Tennis Championships resumes with doubles competition tonight at the Pacific Islands Club tennis courts.

A total of 30 teams will compete in six divisions—men’s open, men’s 4.0, men’s 3.0, women’s open, women’s 4.0, and mixed open.

Taking the top seed in the men’s doubles are 2003 South Pacific Games teammates Todd Montgomery and Jeff Race. Expected to give them a run for their money is the equally talented pair of Faheem Ebrahim and Rory Mackay, who have been seeded No. 2.

Three other teams will try to prevent a Montgomery/Race and Ebrahim/Mackay showdown in the finals.

Felipe Quiroz and Yosuke Saito will play in the first round against Boyet Minor and John Johnson, with the winner advancing to face Montgomery and Race.

Like the top two seeds Jung Mun Chung and Daniel Son also got a bye in the opening round and will play Ebrahim and Mackay in the next.

Long-time partners Dino Jones and Roy Pangelinan will try to work their magic one more time as top seeds in the men’s 4.0. Challenging them are the tandems of Eli Buenaventura and Craig Buboltz, Dick Brostrom and Gary Ramsey, Nanding Cajigan and Ryan Jimenez, Kevin Carey and Haruki Nakajima, Edwin Maratas and Jorge Olanda, Eddie Kim and Jay Jay Lu, and Perry Cacdac and Michael Robert.

There are no clear favorites in the men’s 3.0 with the pairings of John Jenkins and Steve Tilly, Evan Hunsberger and Dexter Palacios, Nate Algaier and Daniel Colton, and Dennis Tababa and Peter Bocago having equal chances of bringing home the bacon.

That theme carries over in the women’s open with Letty Jones and Sally Wong, Yuko Kobayashi and Kazumi Imai, Cleofe Santos and Young Son, and Mayuko Arriola and Vivian Lee all capable of winning the championship.

Round-robin play will be used to decide the winner of women’s 4.0 as only three teams entered the category, namely Nelia Luna and Lucita Pasana, mother-and-daughter Delia and Melody Johnson, and Melanie Daly and Karen Buettner.

Montgomery’s pairing with Kobayashi, meanwhile, is the team to beat in the mixed open doubles. Expected to crowd them in the final is the duo of Ebrahim and Wong. Others entered in the mixed open are Pangelinan and Young Son, Peter Loyola and Cleofe Santos, mother-and-son Delia and John Johnson, and John Jenkins and Toni Okawa.