Netters miss trip to Asiad semifinals

GUANGZHOU, China – Former Asian Games doubles gold medalist Lu Yen Hsun and Chinese Taipei teammate Yang Tsung Hua outplayed Conrad Treat Huey and Cecil Mamiit in separate singles events and advanced to the semifinals of the Asian Games lawn tennis competitions yesterday at the Aoti Tennis Center.

Yang had to go through the wringer in one hour, 22 minutes before taking a 7-6 (5), 7-5 victory over Huey, and Lu, the 2002 Busan Asiad Games doubles gold medalist, took the cue from his parner’s win to hold off Mamiit in 1:46, 6-2, 7-6 (4) It was a bad day for the Phl Davis Cuppers, whose compelling show a day earlier over Kyrgystan was the only winning note for the embattled Philippine contingent at the start of competitions of the quadrennial meet.

Lu, member of the doubles team that won the gold in 2002 and the bronze in Doha four years ago, broke Mamiit in second game and won it on another service break to win the first set in just 36 minutes.

Lu took a 3-0 advantage in the second set before Mamiit tied it 3-3, and the two held their own until the 12th game before Lu won it with four tiebreak points.

In the quarterfinals Saturday, Conrad Treat Huey crushed Geor Kotliarevski, 6-0, 6-1, in only 35 minutes while Mamiit worked twice longer to dispose of Danilar Duldaev, 6-4, 6-4, making inconsequential the doubles match where Johnny Arcilla and Ruben Gonzales Jr. routed Duldaev and Kotliarevski, 6-1, 6-2.

Chinese Taipei, bronze medalist in team competition in the 2006 Doha Asian Games, thus advanced to the medal round against India. Battling out for the other semis berths were South Korea against Uzbekistan and China against Japan.

The Filipinos are competing in the singles and doubles events starting Nov. 17.