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10 in the books as singles play begin
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Posted on Oct 20 2004
The Filipino-American Tennis Association finally kicked off singles play for the 2004 Shell-Telesource Open Tuesday night at the American Memorial Park tennis courts.
A record number of 11 matches – 10 in the men’s 3.0 division – got done as bad weather and power failure veered away from the venue for a change.
In the shortest match of the evening, Edgar Casing showed no mercy in dealing former practice partner Boy Cruz a 6-0, 6-0 beating. Also getting out of the first round relatively unscathed was Massimo Flouti as the Frenchman dominated Noel Manalang 6-3, 6-3.
Flouti’s doubles partner, Chris Stophe, got into a bit of trouble in his match against Henry Pun before prevailing 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Roy Banados also had to sweat it out before topping Orly De Leon 7-6 (7-5), 6-1. Mario Buencuseco was on the same boat winning 7-5, 6-4 over Ramon Angeles.
Teenager Vivian Lee, meanwhile, pushed Matti Buenaventura, to the limit before the latter took the victory in a score of 7-5, 6-4. Lee’s close friend, Kanani Ashraf, was more fortunate beating Buenaventura’s son, Russell, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2).
In the final match of the evening, Joel Santiago outlasted John Jenkins in a game that ended way past the 10pm curfew of the AMP tennis courts 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.
FILATA also wrapped up a couple of matches through walkover decisions Tuesday. Elemen Solomon and Yesmen Gurung both were credited with effortless wins after their opponents, Masahiro Tanaka and Larry Fortes, failed to show up for their scheduled encounters.
Earlier, top seeds Jun Villanueva and Lito Cabrera hoisted the championship of the men’s open doubles after routing the father-and-son pair of Eli and Ralph Buenaventura 6-1, 6-2.
In related news, FILATA president Eli Buenaventura said that because of the unpredictable weather, players seeing action in the singles and mixed doubles divisions should check their schedules for updates.
For more information about the 2004 Shell-Telesource Open, please call tournament directors Elmer Guzman at 483-2004 or Alex Martin at 322-1130.
