Patrombon falls anew: Aussie clinches singles plum

MANILA, Philippines - Australian Andrew Whittington spoiled the 18th birthday celebration of a hurting Jeson Patrombon, reasserting his mastery over the Filipino ace with a 6-2, 6-3 romp to clinch the boys’ singles crown in the 22nd Mitsubishi Lancer International Junior Championships at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center yesterday.

The 6-foot-2 Whittington turned to his big serve to thwart the top seeded Patrombon and frustrated the big Sunday crowd that trooped to the venue to support the pride of Iligan’s quest for a breakthrough win in the Grade 1 netfest.

But like in his last two cracks at the championship in Thailand and Malaysia, Patrombon came out a beaten man.

The rigors of being in three straight finals in the circuit and three successive deciding sets in the meet took their toll on Patrombon, whose physiotherapists had to work overtime in his cramps-stricken legs to make him ready for the finale. He was given painkillers before his duel with Whittington.

“I kept on trusting my serve throughout the match,” said No. 2 seed Whittington, who duplicated his conquest of Patrombon in the championship of the 17th Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup in Kuching, Malaysia last week.

Whittington scored on service winners nearly at will, yielding only one game on serve, at the start of the second set when he committed three double-faults that eventually allowed the Filipino bet to go up, 1-0. He had eight double-faults in all but that hardly mattered.

“Masakit talaga, pinilit ko lang (My legs really bothered me),” said an apologetic Patrombon, who played his 15th singles match in the tour since Mar. 7.

“Masaya na rin kasi maganda naman ang naging performance ko sa tournament at nakarating sa finals (Overall, I’m still satisfied with my performance in this tournament).”

Coach Manny Tecson said without spring on his legs, Patrombon’s first serve also suffered and took a dive, along with it Phl’s bid to snare a first-ever boys’ single plum in the annual event.

Whittington held serve then immediately broke Patrombon to set the tone for the match, en route to seizing a 4-1 head start.

Sharing the limelight with Whittington was Serbian No. 4 Jovana Jaksic, who captured the girls’ singles plum at the expense of Estonian No. 3 Anette Kontaveit, 6-4, 7-6 (3).