Lady netters salvage bronze

HO CHI MINH (Via Globe Telecom) — The Philippine tennis team fared even worse here than in Kuala Lumpur in 2001 as it copped just one bronze medal courtesy of the lady netters.

The team missed what could have been two more bronzes as Johnny Arcilla lost his quarterfinals match in singles and his tandem with Adelo Abadia suffered the same fate in men’s doubles at the Lan Anh Tennis Club here.

Arcilla, the country’s No. 1 netter, was dealt a heart-breaking 2-6, 6-1, 6-7 (4) defeat by the second seeded Febi Widhiyanto in men’s singles quarterfinals.

A little later, Arcilla and Abadia bowed to Widhiyanto and Prima Simpatiaji, 6-7, 4-6, in the doubles.

Arcilla went close to making the singles semis as he led 5-4 in the third and deciding set. But Widhiyanto forced a tiebreak and subsequently won it, foiling the Filipino’s upset bid.

Czarina Mae Arevalo sprained her right ankle and retired in her quarterfinal match with fourth seed Sandy Gumulya before the second set. Gumulya took the opening set at 6-3. — Nelson Beltran