De Guzman, De Castro triumph

Ian de Guzman and Jandrick de Castro downed separate rivals yesterday to reach the boys’ 18-under semifinals in the 2001 Milo Junior Tennis Cup and Regional Workshop at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

De Guzman, champion in the Manzano Memorial Cup last week, outplayed Borgs Solpico, 6-4, 6-4.

De Castro, a high school freshman at La Salle-Greenhills, defeated Janji Soquino, 6-1, 6-4, to arrange a Final Four duel with Yannick Guba, a 6-2, 6-1 winner over Irwin de Guzman.

Earlier, Arithmetico Lim clobbered Christian Canlas, 6-2, 6-2, and Ed Angelo Diez outclassed Hussein Macapendeg, 6-0, 6-1, to forge a boys’ 14-under semifinal showdown in this event organized by the Children’s Tennis Workshop and supported by Adidas and Sports Kids.

In other matches, Hamza Macapendeg defeated Daniel Macalino, 6-2, 6-0, to advance against Bryan Deo Dayleg, who beat Gerber Mamawal, 6-3, 6-3.

In the girls’ 16-under division, Bernardine Sepulveda downed Angelica Ngo, 6-1, 6-1, to advance to the semifinal round against German Angela Wolff, who survived Melissa Orteza, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5. Other winners were Ivy de Castro and Julie Base.

Semifinalists in the girls’ 12-under class were Bambi Zoleta, Julie Ann Jopia, Julie Em Botor and Jessica Agra.

Gaining semifinal slots in the unisex 10-under were Zoleta, who conquered Sarah Jane Lim, 6-3, 6-3; Gerard Ngo, who struggled past Bernardine Siso, 6-4, 7-6; Patrick Ken Arevalo, who blasted Joseph Baldonado, 6-0, 6-0; and Agra, a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Tomic Apacible.