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Upset marks opening of Verizon Cup
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Posted on Jul 29 2004
The Saipan Tennis Association kicked off its 2nd Verizon Cup Wednesday night with seven of the eight matches concluding the way it should at the American Memorial Park tennis courts.
The lone match that went against the grain was the men’s 4.0 contest between the dark horse team of Renato Espanola and John Wayne Kintaro and the unheralded duo of Jonathan Frasco and Matt Buenabajo.
Espanola and Kintaro entered the match as the overwhelming favorites but Frasco and Buenabajo made a mess of the tournament seedings and proceeded to upset their opponents in a score of 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
The only other men’s 4.0 match scheduled for opening night saw the tandem of Jess Pacheco and Tony Santos make mincemeat of the pair of Hector Benitez and Gannover Retin 6-2, 6-4.
Men’s 4.5 action had Peter Loyola and Hector Gutierrez advance to the second round after overwhelming Martin Igitol and Kintaro 6-1, 6-3.
Four matches in the men’s 3.0 division also got done Wednesday. In the first game, the team of Father Ryan Jimenez and Benito Tohsi is safely into the next round after beating Mario Buensuceso and Elemen Solomon 6-1, 6-4.
Louie Cagampang and Eugene Dasalla also celebrated with a win on opening night after dismissing Sathiyan Kalarikkal and Romy Angeles 7-5, 6-1.
The pairs of Massimo Flouti and Eric Robinson, John Jenkins and Bobby Nato, and the father-and-son tandem of Joe Motto, Sr. and Joe Motto, Jr. also advanced after walkover victories.
Doubles play will continue the rest of the weekend at the AMP tennis courts. Singles and mixed doubles play get underway next week starting on Aug. 4 with categories in the men’s 5.0, men’s 4.0, men’s 3.0, women’s 4.0, women’s 3.0, women’s 2.0, mixed doubles 5.0, mixed doubles 4.0, and mixed doubles 3.0.
Sponsor Verizon has committed $1,000 in cash and about $2,000 worth of cellular phones, phone cards, t-shirts, caps, and other merchandize to STA for the tournament.
For more information on the 2nd Verizon Cup please call Roy Pangelinan at 256-7769, Nelia Luna at 288-5151/287-0859, Agnes Salazar at 287-0858, Richard Asuncion at 287-0856, Babu Malayil at 286-9745, or Lope Padilla at 286-9733. Those interested can also e-mail STA at saipan_tennis@yahoo.com.
