Encarnacion on track for redemption

CEBU, Philippines - Cebuano Christopher Encarnacion walked down the road to redemption on a bright note in the 2010 Milo Junior Tennis Cup Visayas eliminations yesterday at the Cebu Country Club.

Encarnacion, who lost the title to Joel Cantila of Davao and a chance to compete in the national finals Davao last year, easily crushed Mark Suson, 6-1, 6-0 to proceed into the quarterfinal round in the boys 12-under category.

Encarnacion will face next Joashua Kinaadman, who advanced following a 6-0, 6-1 thrashing of Norman Enriquez.

Encarnacion and Kinaadman were joined into the last round of 16 by Clyde Dujali, Francis Lambayan, Mark Go and Arthur Craig Pantino.

Dujali dumped Hugo Von Tudtud, 6-0, 6-2, while Lambayan overpowered Reynante Toledo, 6-1, 6-3.

Go and Pantino posted contrasting wins before setting up a quarterfinal showdown against each other.

Pantino had to go through a tie-breaker before eking out a 6-4, 3-6, 10-8 win over Carl Balondo, while Pantino won by default over a no-show Anthony Jomari Repunte.

Dujali and Lambayan’s next opponents are still unknown as of this writing.

Pantino, aside from aiming for the top spot of the boys 12-under, is also the defending champion in the unisex 10-under.

Two other Cebuanos, Hannah Grace Espinosa and Jacob Lagman, were the national champions in the girls and boys 14-under classes respectively. Espinosa though could no longer defend her crown, while Lagman is not joining the event.

With that, new faces out of over a hundred young tennis players joining the Visayas leg are set to represent this region in the battle of the champions set on August 26-29 at the Clark Freeport Zone in Mabalacat, Pampanga.

The organizing CTW Group decided to hold the finale earlier than the previous stagings so that the selected athletes will have ample time to train and prepare all the documents they needed for their Malaysia trip. – THE FREEMAN