Dandan last Pinoy standing

Kyle Joshua Dandan became the lone Filipino survivor in the boys’ division of the 15th Mitsubishi Lancer International Junior Tennis Championships by beating wild card Laurence Magaway, 6-4, 6-4, at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center yesterday.

Seeded 37th in this weeklong event that features world No. 5 and tournament top seed Karan Rastogi of India, the 16-year-old Dandan remained the last RP boy standing with the other local bets falling one after the other right in the opening round.

Among the local casualties was Filipina top bet Alyssa Anne Labay who bowed to New Zealand’s Shona Lee, 0-6, 4-6.

"Sumabog ako sa first round kaya nahirapan na akong makabalik," said Labay, the La Carlota, Negros Occidental native who is a member of the RP Federation Cup team.

"Nung second set nakuha ko na ang rhythm ko kaya medyo lumaban ako kaya lang magaling talaga siya," she added.

Another early victor in the girls’ side was Germany’s Anja Vanessa Peter who whipped Australia’s Julianne Welford, 6-2, 6-4.

Dandan’s next foe is Lachlan Ferguson of Australia, the eighth seed who drew a first round bye.

Suffering the same fate as Labay were Michael Basco, Irwin de Guzman, Miguel Narvaez and Ralph Kevin Barte.

Basco was overwhelmed by David Jeflea of Australia, 1-6, 1-6; De Guzman lost to Steven Popovic of Australia, 3-6, 3-6; Narvaez bowed to Richard Wire of Great Britain, 5-7, 4-6; and Barte suffered a 4-6, 5-7 beating from Elliot Wronski also of Great Britain.

Playing at press time in the girls’ side were Melissa Rose Orteza, Julie Dotor, Catherine Flores, Noelle Zoleta, Ivy de Castro and Michelle Pang.

There were minor upsets in the first round including 18th pick David Galic of Australia and 19th seed Michael Leong of Solomon Islands.

Galic was shown the door by No. 26 Philipp Piyamongkol of Germany, 6-4, 6-3, while Leong was bundled out by No. 46 Aryton Wibowo, 1-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Also pulling off surprising wins were Syrym Abdukhalikov of Kazakhstan and Victor Bogi Leonte of Romania. Abdukhalikov, seeded 27th, trounced No. 22 Keith Meisner of Great Britain, 6-1, 6-3, while the 45th pick Leonte edged No. 30 Kevin Doh of New Zealand, 5-7, 6-2, 6-0.

Also advancing to the next round were Martin Sayer of Hong Kong, Luka Ocvirk of Slovenia, Steven Goh of Australia, Andrew Coelho of Australia, Lai Xiao Peng of Hong Kong and Todd Ley of Australia.

The event is presented by the Philippine Tennis Association (Philta), the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), Department of Tourism, Traders Hotel, Wilson Balls, Summit Natural Drinking Water and Drewberry cookies.