Patrombon closes in on Sarawak tennis title

MANILA, Philippines - Top seed Jeson Patrombon dumped sixth pick Julien Cagnina of Belgium, 6-0, 7-5, and then whipped German qualifier Jannis Kahlke, 6-3, 6-1, to advance to the finals of the 17th Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup Tennis Championship in Kuching, Malaysia.

The 17-year-old Patrombon, who is currently 10th in the world juniors ranking, made it to the finals versus second seed Andrew Whittington of Australia, who downed unseeded German Robin Kern, 6-2, 7-5.

The Iligan City pride also kept himself in the running for the doubles title after he and partner Jaden Grinter of the New Zealand bucked a first set defeat to edge out No. 4 Kimmer Coppejans of Belgium and Maxim Lunkin of Russia, 1-6, 6-4, 10-7.

But Patrombon and partner Jaden Grinter of New Zealand also made a good run in the double before being stopped Luke Saville and Joey Swaysland of Australia, 6-4, 6-1.

Patrombon is competing in the circuit with hopes of matching if not eclipsing his strong second place finish in last week’s Grade 1 tournament in Thailand where he gained 100 ITF ranking points.

A championship is worth 150 points in this Grade 1 tournament, just one level below Grand Slam events.

The Filipino lad aims to make the top five in his last season in the ITF Tour.