Lower-seeded teams making a killing

If you’re seeded among the top three in your division, better watch out.

The upset trend in the 2nd Verizon Cup continued on the third day of competition Friday at the American Memorial Park tennis courts.

The latest victims: Jorge Olanda and Edwin Maratas, the top seeded team in the men’s 4.0 doubles division.

Olanda and Maratas have finished no lower than runner-up in all the tournaments they played as doubles teammates the past two years or so. They got a bye in the first round of the Saipan Tennis Association-sponsored event and were expecting to go all the way.

But the peppery tandem of Tony Santos and Jess Pacheco halted Olanda and Maratas’ reign in the 4.0 division last Friday night, outplaying the top-seeded duo in three hotly contested sets 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Indeed, the top guns in the tournament have a big red-and-white target sign painted behind their backs.

On Thursday, the second-ranked men’s 4.5 doubles team of Richard Asuncion and Gerald Narciso also experienced the same fate, losing 4-6, 2-6 against the veteran tandem of Mohammad Ashraf and Robert Coracero.

And on opening day, Wednesday, 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 ended with the latter pulling off a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 upset special.

Eight other doubles matches went down on Friday in the men and women’s doubles. In 4.0, Ashraf and Joe Motto Sr. advanced to the next round after outlasting the tireless twosome of Babu Malayil and Narciso 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-5).

The Commonwealth Health Center pair of Richard Brostrom and Gary Ramsey managed to avoid the upset axe in men’s 3.0, after the No. 1 seeds sent Tinian residents, Archie Monticello and Reggie Reyes, boarding the next ferry boat out of Saipan 7-5, 2-6, 6-0.

Doy Ligan and Audwin Morocco, another pair from casino land, will still be coming back to Saipan, however, after running over Roy Banados and Lito Santos 6-0, 6-3 in the same division.

Action in the men’s 4.5 was marked by yet another upset after Lope Padilla and Nicolas Son shelled the father -and-son team-up of Dale and Jung Mun Chung 6-2, 6-2. The Chungs were ranked No. 2.

New arrival Peter Loyola and Pacific Trading’s Hector Gutierrez, meanwhile, continued to defy odds-makers after shocking the veteran duo of Roy Pangelinan and Dino Jones 5-7, 7-5, 6-1.

Pangelinan incidentally had an opportunity to serve out the match in the second set but failed to convert on several match point opportunities. Top seeds Elmer Guzman and Ronnie Lacbayo, for their part, ended the finals hopes of Ashraf and Coracero 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).

In the women’s division, Cleofe Santos and Ligaya Paculanang defeated Nelia Luna and Mina Solomon 6-1, 6-3 in the 4.0 division. The pair of Baby and Josie then hurdled Emily and Ellen 6-1, 6-3.

Doubles play will continue the next two days at the AMP tennis courts. Singles and mixed doubles play get underway on Wednesday, Aug. 4.

Sponsor Verizon has committed $1,000 in cash and about $2,000 worth of cellular phones, phone cards, T-shirts, caps, and other merchandise 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.