Race-Arriola lead doubles winners

The May-September tandem of Jeff Race and Mayuko Arriola led nine other pairs that won their respective division titles in the 8th Annual Pacific Islands Club-Gatorade Tennis Championships held over the weekend at the PIC courts.

Race completed a doubles sweep when he teamed up with Arriola in claiming the mixed doubles open title beating the pair of Peter Loyola and Lydia Tan in yesterday’s finals.

The Race and Arriola tandem won their second straight title when they handed the Loyola-Tan pair a 6-2, 6-3 defeat in the mixed open finals.

Race and Arriola showed no mercy against Loyola and Tan as they dictated the tempo of the match to cruise to the easy win that only lasted more than one hour.

Race and Arriola, which also won the 4th Taga Tennis mixed doubles crown last December, opened up the round-robin play with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Nicolas Son and Thea Minor.

Loyola and Tan, meanwhile, had little rest before the finals against Race and Arriola after scoring a hard-earned 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (10-8) win over Son and Minor. They were down 5-2 in the third set but they rallied back in the game to force the tiebreak.

With momentum clearly shifting on their side, Loyola and Tan did not back down and continued their aggressive plays at the net and baseline forcing their opponents to wide returns.

Race also won the men’s open doubles crown when he partnered with Loyola in beating the Son-Wook Su Chang pair in the finals, 6-3, 6-4.

Cleofe Santos and Hector Benitez ruled the mixed doubles 4.0 division with a 6-1, 7-5 decision over Tan and Gabriel Colombo. Santos then joined Minor in winning the women’s open title after sweeping their opponents.

Santos and Minor first defeated Matty Buenaventura and Delia Johnson, 6-2, 6-0, then scored a 6-1, 6-1 decision against Arriola and Lila Mailman.

Arriola and Mailman bounced back with a 6-1, 6-3 triumph over Johnson and Buenaventura to claim the runner up honors.

Buenaventura and Johnson, however, claimed the women’s doubles 4.0 title after beating Theecel Minor and Tisha Ferrer, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5. They also defeated Karen Buettner and Jodel Fernandez, 6-2, 6-1.

Theecel and Tisha scored a 6-0, 6-3 decision against Buettner and Fernandez to arrange the finals match against Buenaventura and Johnson.

Nanding Cajigan and Reo Arriola downed Gary Ramsey and Richard Brostrom, 7-5, 6-2, in the men’s doubles 4.0 finals, while Dodong Salinas and Ernie Henzon pulled off a 7-6, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Ted Jung and Tommy Kennington in the men’s doubles 3.0 division.

In the boys’ 9-and-under, Chris Cajigan and Colin Ramsey showed nerves of steel to survive the gallant stand made by Evzen Pabellon and Elnathan Wong, 7-5, in the finals.

Cajigan and Ramsey defeated Jordan Butcher and Thomas Lim, 6-0, in the semis while Pabellon and Wong downed Luther Lizama and Carl Dela Cruz, 6-2, to clinch the second finals berth.

Butcher and Lim won over Clayton Izuka and Alex Park, 6-3, in the other match.

Christian Miller and Daniel Camacho ruled the boys’ 13-and-under doubles after a 6-2, 7-6 triumph over Rafael Jones and Nathan Nutting in the finals.

Miller-Camacho also scored consecutive wins over the pairs of Tommi Choi and Quintin Ramsey, 6-4, 6-3, and Raj Ramnani and Joel Jang, 6-0, 6-1, while Jones and Nutting followed them in the finals with wins over Jake T. Lee and Clay McCullough-Stearns, 6-0, 6-2, and Kennedy Izuka and Chris Park, 6-0, 6-3.

Lee and McCullough-Stearns escaped with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 win over Dylan Ackerman and Lucas Nutting in the other match.

Eight-year-old Neghar Rastguiy teamed up with Ilia Corella to beat the pair of Amy Arenovski and Gabrielle Race, 6-1, 6-3, in the girls’ 13-and-under division.

PIC, Pacific Trading Co., Stay Well Insurance, and Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino were some of the sponsors of the tournament.