Injury cuts short Maricris return

MANILA, Philippines - Maricris Fernandez injured her toes and dropped the first set, 3-6, then retired in pain, yielding the match to seventh seed Han Sung Hee of Korea in the $10,000 Holcim/ITF Women’s Circuit Week I at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

Fernandez, the inaugural champion of this annual event but who is on a comeback trail after bowing out of the tennis scene seven years ago, was actually leading, 2-0, and 40-15 in the third game of the opening set before busting her two toenails.

The 30-year-old Filipina tried to put up a fight but just couldn’t bear the pain, enabling Han, ranked 780th in the world by the ITF, to seize the third game and five of the last six to annex the abbreviated win.

Tournament physicians tried to dress up the wound and put some cushion but Fernandez said she couldn’t carry on and opted to retire and fight another time.

“It slowed me down,” said Fernandez, who is also set to team up with Fil-Ams Cecil Mamiit and Riza Zalameda in spearheading the country’s bid in next month’s SEA Games in Laos.

“I actually felt the pain yesterday (Wednesday) but I put foam on it and at first, it worked. But after the third game, the foam loosened and I started to feel the pain and it was really downhill for from there,” said Fernandez, who heralded her return to big-time tennis with a 6-1, 6-2, rout of Yoko Naito of Japan in the first round.

Fernandez said doctors had advised her to remove the nails instead and hope it heals in time for Week II of the circuit sponsored by Holcim, PLDT/Smart, Phinma and the ITF Grand Slam Development Fund.

“They (doctors) said if I allow it to heal naturally, it will take me more than a week, which means I have to skip the second week of this event. So I will take their advice and hope this would heal in four days,” said Fernandez, who hopes to compete again in the singles and partner with Zalameda in the doubles event.

The victory thus sent Han into the quarterfinal round against compatriot No. 4 Yoo Mi, who trounced Israel’s Ofri Lankri, 7-6(1), 6-0, in this meet backed by Tecnifibre Balls and the Philippine Sports Commission.

Comely Gally de Wael of Belgium stopped Chinese qualifier Zhang Nan Nan with a 6-3, 6-4 win to forge a duel with Chinese Taipei’s Juan Ting Fei, who stunned third seed Elodie Rogge-Dietrich of France, 6-3, 6-1.

The long-limbed de Wael proved too strong for Zhang, who pulled the rug from under compatriot No. 6 He Chun Ya in a stirring 7-6(4), 6-2 win last Wednesday.

No. 2 Lee Ye Ra of Korea, in contrast, dominated Huyn Phuong Dau Trang of Vietnam, 6-4, 6-2, to arrange an interesting quarters showdown with No. 5 Liu Shaozhou, a 6-0, 6-3 winner over Ivana King of the United States.