Barte leads march of local netters

Ralph Kevin Barte and five other locals fashioned out victories over their respective rivals to join top Filipino bet Kyle Dandan into the next round but the bulk of the RP entries succumbed to tough foreign opposition at the start of the 18th Mitsubishi Lancer ITF Junior Circuit yesterday at the Rizal Tennis Center.

Barte, the second highest ranked Filipino in this weeklong event sponsored by Mitsubishi Motors, was up, 6-4, 6-5, when Francis Alcantara retired due to exhaustion with the match being play in searing heat to set up a second round duel with eighth pick Eugen Bradzil of Slovakia, one of the 16 seeded players who drew first round byes.

Also advancing were Pablo Olivarez II, Mark Jaypee Balce, qualifiers Raymund Villarete and Felix Assad and wild card entry Christian Canlas.

Olivarez trounced James Canete, 6-1, 6-3; Balce downed wild card Carlos Espedido, 6-3, 6-1; Villarete whipped Jose Opulencia, 6-0, 6-4; Assad subdued fellow qualifier Paul Magaway, 6-1, 6-3; and Canlas bested Arthur Tafalla, 6-3, 6-1.

The 13th ranked Dandan, on his final year in the junior ranks, also drew a first round bye and will take on Balce for a spot in the third round.

"My goal is to make the finals because this is my last year in the junior circuit," said Dandan, who will turn 18 on May 8. From 92nd in the world juniors rankings two weeks ago, Dandan dropped to 118th this week following so-so performances in Grade 1 events in Bangkok, Thailand and Malaysia.

The rest of the local bets – Joshua Ho, Leander Lazaro, John Largo, Juan Fidel Regis, Mark Jimenez, Akio Sy, Kim Ivor Saraza and Russel Arcilla, Jr. – fell by the wayside against talented foreign rivals.

Ho bowed to Kevin Kung of Hong Kong, 6-3, 6-3; Lazaro lost to Seo Jeong-Han of Korea, 6-1, 6-1; Largo absorbed a 6-3, 6-3 beating from Sebastian Lavie of New Zealand; and Regis was whitewashed by Borut Puc of Slovenia, 6-0, 6-0.

Swede Milos Sekulic of Sweden blanked Jimenez, 6-0, 6-0; Huang Hsu-Chun of Chinese Taipei blasted Sy, 6-0, 6-1; Silvio Dadic of Croatia whipped Saraza, 6-0, 6-1; and Sam Gould of New Zealand blasted Arcilla, 6-4, 6-1.