Arevalo loses steam, bows to Australian

Czarina Mae Arevalo failed to sustain a hot start and bowed to Australian Natalie Tanevska in the second round of the 14th Mitsubishi Lancer Group I International Junior Tennis Championships at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center as the Philippines blew its chance to make an impact on the prestigious event.

Currently the country’s top lady netter, the 17-year-old Arevalo showed up Tanevska in the early going and even led in both the first and second sets. But she lost steam, turned erratic in the crucial stretch before dropping a heart-breaking 5-7, 4-6 decision.

"I was really playing well at the start of both sets," said Arevalo, the reigning PCA Open champion. "But she recovered because I started to commit a lot of unforced errors."

Unleashing her power serves and solid groundstrokes, Arevalo, who climbed to No. 150 in the world rankings following her impressive performances in Brunei, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, took a 4-2 lead in the opening set but Tanevska rallied by racking up five of the next six points for a one set edge.

For a while, Arevalo appeared to have regained her composure as she seized 2-1 and 3-2 lead in the second set but, again, she crumbled against her rival’s superb court coverage and bowed out of this week-long event sponsored by Mitsubishi Motors and presented by Accel.

Like Arevalo, Tracy Bautista, who was one of the four Filipinas who drew first round byes, got the boot when she was smothered by fourth seed Thassha Vitayaviroj of Thailand, 6-0, 6-0.

The two other local entries, Michelle Pang and Catherine Flores, were also shown the door with Pang bowing to No. 5 Chan Yung-jan of Chinese-Taipei, 6-0, 6-0; and Flores absorbing a 6-1, 6-0 loss from No. 9 Mari Andersson of Sweden.

Tournament top seeds Chris Kwon of the United States and Montinee Tangphong of Thailand pulled off contrasting victories in their respective divisions to tow the field into the next round.

Kwon, the world’s fourth-ranked netter, struggled in the first set before smashing Russian Alexander Kudriavisev, 7-5, 6-3, while Tangphong, the ladies’ top seed, outplayed RP’s Anna Denise Culaba, 6-1, 6-2.