Previous Story
Five teams punch finals tickets in Aon tennis
|
Posted on May 01 2006
The inaugural Aon Insurance Tennis Tournament is picking up steam and is expected to conclude in the following days.
This has become more apparent as five more doubles pairs barged into the championship rounds of their respective divisions Sunday night at the American Memorial Park tennis courts.
A spattering of rain showers and an unexpected power interruption did little to halt the advance of Lope Padilla and Lito Cabrera in the men’s 5.0, Roy Pangelinan and Dino Jones in the men’s 4.5, Letty Jones and Joy Minor and Lila Mailman and Vivian Lee in the women’s 5.0, and Ricky Castro and Thea Minor in the mixed 3.0.
Padilla and Cabrera made it to the finals after hurdling their semifinal opponents, Daniel Son and Kaisuke Takaki, in three hard-fought sets 7-5, 3-6, 6-4.
Pangelinan and Jones, meanwhile, used their veteran savvy to upend the fire-and-ice tandem of Gannover Rettin and John Johnson, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.
The team of Jones and Minor setup a finals duel opposite Mailman and Lee after overwhelming Nelia Luna and Merle Hudkins, 6-4, 6-2.
National players Mailman and Lee, for their part, needed a marathon tiebreak in the opening set before imposing their will on Cleofe Santos and Vangie Espanola, 7-6 (13-11), 6-1.
The May-September collaboration between Castro and Minor worked wonders when they defeated Joal Joab and Cecil Obaldo, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.
Aside from the five semifinal bouts, two of the quarterfinal varieties were also decided Sunday evening. It saw Henry Poon and Jang Dong-In triumph over Ramon Angeles and Babu Malayil, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, in the men’s 3.0 and Imasato Tomonai and Nicolas Son power to a 6-0, 6-1 win over Ed Johnson and Nanding Cajigan in the men’s 5.0.
For more information about the inaugural Aon Insurance Tennis Tournament, call Roy Pangelinan at 287-7697, Nelia Luna at 287-0859, Ricky Castro at 234-5091, Richard Asuncion at 287-0856, Edwin Maratas at 287-0870, Babu Malayil at 287-4472, Peter Loyola at 285-3135, Lenny Pantaleon at 285-9500, or email saipan_tennis@yahoo.com.
