Eight Pinoy netters bow out in ITF elims

Eight Filipinos failed to reach the final qualifying round of the $15,000 Tru-flex ITF Philippines Men’s Futures 1 at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center yesterday.

Pop Sabandon, Rey Benc, Dino Ferrari, Rolando Ruel Jr., Johan Guba, Ronald Paz and Luisito Clores were totally outclassed by their rivals while Antonio Sagansay put up a mighty challenge before bowing out.

Sabandon lost to top seed Korean Kim Dong-Hyun, 1-6, 1-6; Benc surrendered to No. 2 Japanese Hiroki Kondo, 0-6, 0-6, Ferrari fell to No. 5 Peter Handoyo, 2-6, 3-6; Ruel bowedto No. 7 German Leif Meineke, 4-6, 2-6; Guba succumbed to No. 8 Indon Febi Widhiyanto, 1-6, 1-6; Paz lost to No. 12 Ronald Kukal, 1-6, 0-6, and Clores dropped his match to No. 10 Thai Attapol Rithiwattanapong, 3-6, 3-6.

Sagansay lost a 4-1 lead in the first set when Paulik started to hit well. In the second set, the Filipino went up, 2-0, but Paulik fought back to win, 7-6 (2), 6-4).

Third seed German Maximilian Abel, fourth seed South African Coenie Van Wyke and No. 9 Indon Hendri Susilo Pramono moved closer to earning slots in the 32-man main draw with second-round victories in this event supported by the ITF Grand Slam Development Fund, PSC, Viva Mineral Water, Manila Midtown Hotel and official ball Wilson.

Abel, ranked No. 606 in the world, scored a 7-5, 6-4 win over American John Joseph Stewart, Van Wyk defeated Korean Kim Jun-Young, 6-3, 6-3, and Pramono survived Japanese Atsufumi Yoshikawa, 6-2, 7-6 (4).

Other second-round winners Korean Lee Dae-Dong over No. 14 Japanese Tai Tsuchiya, 2-6, 7-5, 6-2; Taiwanese Chen Ti over Briton Wong Ka, 6-2, 6-2; and Taiwanese Tsai Chia Yen over No. 11 Russian Igor Levine, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.

The main draw will start tomorrow with locals Adelo Abadia, Joseph Arcilla, Michael Mora III and Joseph Victorino entered as wild cards.