Seven more pairs crowned champions

The final week of the Tan Holdings Classic was completed with the crowning of champions in the adults doubles over the weekend.

In the men’s 40-and-above doubles, Boyet Minor and Roy Pangelinan survived Feel Kalen and Dodong Lacbayo in a three-set finale, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1. Minor and Pangelinan were seeded first in their field and won over George Poquiz and Abe Malae in the semis, 6-3, 6-4. Kalen and Lacbayo topped Chang Wan Jang and Nanding Cajigan in the other semis pairing, 6-0, 6-1.

Bobby Cruz and Lope Padilla claimed the men’s open doubles without a sweat in the finals after Pangelinan and Montgomery were forced to forfeit the match. Montgomery could not make it to the finals, as he had to be with his wife, who gave birth last Sunday.

Pangelinan and Montgomery were ranked first in the men’s open doubles and lived up to their lofty billing early when they slipped past Jeff Belzer and Rafael Jones in three sets, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7-5). Padilla and Cruz were seeded second in the same field and earned the right to challenge the top-ranked pair after a straight sets victory over Tommy Choi and Amami Sakano, 6-4, 6-1.

In the men’s 3.0 doubles finals, James Libut and Ernie Henzon outclassed Isagani Cortez and Don Castillo in three sets, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5. Libut and Henzon notched a finals berth after defeating Primo Po and Michael Park, 6-1,6-1, and Noel Biglete and Diony Peralta, 6-1, 6-3, in the upper half of the six-team bracket. In the lower half, Cortez and Castillo triumphed over Edgar Casing and Dylan Ackerman, 6-4, 6-3, and Jaime Hagos and Romulo Pandoro, 6-1, 6-2, to move into the finals.

The men’s 4.0 doubles was also decided in three sets with Lacbayo and Richard Asuncion winning over John Kang and Ryan Cho, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. Lacbayo and Asuncion were unseeded in the field and made it all the way to the title match after beating Kentaro Imaya and Gabriel Colombo, 6-1, 6-2, and father and son Darnel and Carl dela Cruz, 6-4, 6-1. Kang and Cho pulled off an upset over top seed Cajigan and Reo Arriola in the semis, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6, and earlier thwarted Rodel Reyes and Matthew Lopez, 6-0, 6-3, to join Lacbayo and Asuncion in the finals.

In the women’s division, Sadako Arriola and Chieko Nagao, Joy and Theecel Minor, and Lydia Tan and Sally Lee topped their respective fields.

Naga and Arriola ruled the women’s 3.0 doubles after outlasting Keiko Ojima and Ayumi Kaga in the finals, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. A 6-1, 6-1 win over May Ling Colombo and Vicky Izuka put Nagao and Arriola in the semis where they outlasted the mother-and-daughter pair of Merle and Adele Hudkins, 7-5, 1-6, 10-5.

In the women’s 40-and-above doubles, Tan and Lee triumphed over Lin Liang and Quing Xiu Su and Joy Minor and Cleofe Santos to take the championship. The women’s 4.0 doubles crown went to Joy and her daughter Theecel, after they swept Chicharu Sato and Kinumi Taniguchi, 6-2, 6-3, and Sally Lee and Lydia Tan, 6-3, 6-2.

Winners of the Tan Holdings Classic received trophies during the awards ceremony Sunday night at the Hibiscus Hall of the Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan.