Sepulveda, Labay advance in ITF qualifier

Bernardine Sepulveda and Alyssa Anne Labay eliminated their compatriots yesterday to join Kristel Ann Samala in the second round qualifying of the Union Cement-ITF Philippine Women’s Circuit 1 at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

Sepulveda blasted Mercedes Reyes, 6-0, 6-0, and Labay defeated Katrin Joyce Reyes, 6-2, 6-0, while Samala had a first-round bye.

Matches today begin at 10 a.m. with Sepulveda facing second seed Diana Julianto of Indonesia, Labay playing fifth seed Sung Eun-Hee of Korea and Samala meeting seventh seed Ryoko Watanabe of Japan.

Other matches pit top seed Zsuzsanna Babos against No. 9 Tiger Rock Angel of Great Britain, No. 2 Korean Lee Choong-hee against fellow Korean Bae Hae-youn, No. 3 Mari Inoue of Japan against Patricia Mayr of Austria, No. 4 Evelina Rusdianto of Indonesia against Korean Seo Soo-mi and No. 6 Orawan Lamangthong of Thailand against Japanese Kumiko Anzai.

The winners of the two-round qualifying will advance in the 32-person main draw offering $1,600 to the champion.

Czarina Mae Arevalo, ranked No. 1145 in the world, and Patricia Santos, who just returned from a successful Asian Championships campaign in Uzbekistan, are the local wild cards along with 15-year-old Uzbek Ivana Isarailova, the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) wild card.

The main draw of this $10,000 event supported by the ITF Grand Slam Development Fund, Wilson balls, Truflex, Manila Midtown Hotel and Philippine Sports Commission will start on Wednesday (Nov. 6).

Meanwhile, the organizing Philippine Tennis Association announced that there will be a photo contest for the two-leg event. Cash prizes at stake are P3,000, P2,000 and P1,000 for the winners. Sports editors will also receive the same amou