Prulla, Dimacuta post reversals in PSC jr tennis

MANILA, Philippines - Chris Prulla and Mahmod Dimacuta came away with a pair of reversals against fancied rivals to barge into the quarterfinal round of the boys’ 12-and-under division in the Philippine Sports Commission Metro Age Group Tennis Championships at the Rizal Tennis Center yesterday.

Prulla dished out a solid game to subdue fifth seed Cenonb Gonzales Jr., 6-4, 6-1, while Dimacuta humbled No. 8 Mar Raphael Teng, 6-3, 6-4, to remain in the title hunt in the weeklong tournament put up by the PSC.

Prulla, who whitewashed Enrico Ong, 6-0, 6-0, in his first assignment, goes up against Norman Gaspar for a berth in the semifinal round of the event, the first of two tournaments featuring the country’s leading and rising stars in the junior ranks.

Gaspar scored a walkover win over third seed Joel Atienza.

Dimacuta, on the other hand, will take on the winner between No. 4 Vince Salas and Mohamad Ilham, who are playing each other at press time.

Fancied Julian Dayrit also cruised into the next phase via an easy 6-0, 6-1 win over Vincent Anida, while No. 7 Jacob Martin routed John Angelo Cerezo, 7-5, 6-1, to likewise move into the Last 8.

Dayrit collides with the winner between Karl Tenorio and No. 6 Jerome Romualdez, while Martin tangles with second seed Mimo Tomacruz, who earned an opening round bye.

David Vorbeck, meanwhile, continued his title run in the boys’ 16-under as he defeated Tim Becker, 7-5, 6-1, to advance to the quarters.

Joining him in the next round were Eric Olivarez, who survived Miles Bingcang, 4-6, 6-2, 10-3, and sixth seed Hans Asistio, who thumped Haree Raneses, 6-1, 6-1.