MANILA, Philippines – George Morgan of Britain put an end to Jeson Patrombon’s run in the Australian Open juniors boys’ singles competition, hacking out a 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 win in their quarterfinal showdown yesterday in Melbourne, Australia.
Morgan, only 17 but armed with experience on the men’s circuit where he’s currently ranked 930th, yielded the first set to Patrombon but imposed his will in the second and eventually shut the door on the Filipino ace’s bid to go deeper into the grand slam netfest.
The fourth seeded British, who won 72 percent (38-of-53) of his first serve against No. 8 Patrombon, set up a semis duel with top seed Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic.
Vesely played true to his billing, scoring a 6-2, 6-2 romp over Mitchell Krueger of the US.
Despite the loss, Patrombon gained much-needed confidence and precious points from this stint, the best for any Filipino singles player since Felix Barrientos reached the semis of the Wimbledon juniors in 1985.