Lucky Seven moves on in Verizon Cup

Seven doubles pairs moved on to the next round of the 3rd Annual Verizon Cup Thursday night at the American Memorial Park tennis courts.

Peter Loyola and Hector Benitez began the hostilities by reaching the Final Four of the men’s 4.5 following their come-from-behind win over Elmer Guzman and Ronnie Lacbayo.

Loyola and Benitez got off on the wrong foot, fought back, but ultimately had to surrender the opening set, 4-6. The mentor-and-apprentice tandem, however, bounced right back in the second set, leveling the count with a convincing 6-1 victory.

In the rubber third set, both pairs fought hard from the baseline and the net, firing punishing forehands and deep ground strokes against one another and the match ultimately needed a tiebreak to settle the score.

In the end, the Loyola and Benitez tandem had more fortitude than their opponents across the net and wrapped up the match in a score of 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-1).

Lito Cabrera and late replacement Renato “Dodong” Espanola joined Loyola and Benitez in the quarterfinals after turning back veteran Jorge Olanda and youngster Keith Gabaldon 6-2, 6-4.

In the men’s 4.0, Lacbayo got over his previous loss by teaming up with Edwin Mahinay to beat Tony Santos and Reo Arriola. Their 7-5, 6-1 victory pushed the tandem into the Elite Eight of the competition.

Longtime partners Richard Asuncion and Gerald Narciso also reached the Elite Eight following their hard-fought 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) triumph over Buddy Garote and Hector Benitez. Asuncion and Narciso defeated Yesman Gurung and Yao Ming Xu in the first round, 6-1, 6-3.

Sam Apostol and Rodel Macasinag also tasted victory in their men’s 3.5 match against Jaime Hagos and McDuffy Llaban. The unheralded duo used the backdoor in pulling off the win, advancing to the next round with a 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (8-6) victory.

In the modified co-ed 3.0, Venir Urena teamed up with Lenny Pantaleon to defeat the brother-and-sister tandem of Daniel and Jane Camacho, 7-5, 6-3.

Kazumi Imai and Joy Minor, meanwhile, had success in the lone women’s doubles match of the evening, beating youngsters Lila Mailman and Vivien Lee, 6-1, 6-1.

While doubles play is already underway, the singles and mixed doubles competition of the Saipan Tennis Association-organized event will not unfold until Aug. 11.

The award ceremony and end-of-tournament banquet would be held on the last day of the two-week and three-day long event on Aug. 20 at the AMP grounds.

For more information about the 3rd Annual Verizon Tennis Cup, contact STA president Roy Pangelinan at 287-7697, vice president-internal Nelia Luna at 288-5151 or 287-0859, vice president-external Ricky Castro at 484-2969, auditor Marlon Estigoy at 287-0895, and secretary Lenny Pantaleon 285-9500.