Dy fancied to win it all sans Arevalo

Top seed Fil-American Denise Dy outclassed Regina Monsod, 6-1, 6-0, yesterday to lead the first-round winners in the ladies’ singles of the 25th Philippine Columbian Association (PCA) Open Tennis Championships at the PCA indoor shell-claycourts.

Dy, born and raised in San Jose, California, is optimistic of winning the title in the absence of RP women’s teammate Czarina Mae Arevalo, who skipped the P400,000 tournament in favor of the Hopman Cup which starts tomorrow in Hyderabad, India.

"Without Czarina, I should be dominating this tournament. I know that everybody has high expectations of me," said the 17-year-old Dy, the only Filipino invited to the International Tennis Federation Junior Team which trained for three months in Europe early this year.

"I also feel that I should win because I don’t want to disappoint the people who expect so much from me. But I don’t want to be overconfident. I’ve seen some good local players and anything can happen in a match. I’ll just do my best and hopefully win the title this time," added Dy, who lost in the semifinals two years ago. She did not compete last year as she had to fly back to the US after competing in the SEA Games.

Dy, who together with Arevalo will compete in next month’s Doha Asian Games, will next meet Cristita Gulosino, who rallied past Arleen Marave, 6-1, 4-6, 6-0, at 9 a.m. today.

In other results, second seed Bambi Zoleta blasted Karen Guillermo, 6-0, 6-0, to advance against Martina Rivero, a 6-1, 6-1 winner over Lourdes Binoya, while No. 3 Michelle Pang defeated qualifier Carla Ferrer, 6-0, 6-1, to advance against Michelle Panis, who prevailed over Ana Ysabel Soriano, 6-0, 6-1.