Mendoza, Tanpoco head Phinma cast

MANILA, Philippines - Jurence Mendoza gets to showcase his wares before local fans as he joins Maika Tanpoco as spearheads of the local challenge in the Phinma International Junior Tennis Championships, which kick off Nov. 20 at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

The two-stage annual tournament, featuring the region’s leading junior players and rising stars, will have 32-player draws in both the boys and girls’ sides with the organizing Philippine Tennis Association holding a two-day qualifier to accommodate the big number of entries.

Week I elims will be played Nov. 18-19 with deadline for listup on Nov. 17 at 6 p.m. The tournament supervisor is Wannawit Srirasa of Thailand.

The six-day, ranking tournament is backed by Technifibre (official ball), Viva (official mineral water) and Powerade (official energy drink) and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission.

Mendoza, ranked 98th in the world juniors, is the top seed. The 16-year-old southpaw is seeking a followup to his victory in the recent Hong Kong Open against the likes of Wei Jen Chen, Taiwan’s No. 3, Teeradon Tortrakul of Thailand, China’s Xin Chen, Australia’s Daniel Nolan and Malaysia’s No. 2 Ahmed Deedat Abdul Razak.

Alberto Lim, the 13-year-old find who won the boys’ doubles crown and reached the Last 16 in last week’s Singapore ITF tilt, is also in the main draw while the likes of Jacob Lagman, Betto Orendain, Andrew Cano and Jerome Romualdez hope to hurdle the qualifiers for spots in the tournament proper.

Tanpoco, coming off a big victory in the girls’ singles, also in last week’s Singapore meet, gets the No. 3 seeding behind top ranked India’s Sri Vaishnavi and No. 2 Miki Kobayashi of Japan while another Filipina bet, Marian Jade Capadocia, is ranked No. 5 behind Thai Plobrung Plipuech.

For details, contact Loida Mallare at 0947-4554094.

Chasing berths in the main draw are Roxanne Resma, Maia Balce, Isabella Mendoza, Khim Iglupas, Angela Sunga, Andrea Amistad, Dominique Ong, Jade Capadocia and Lenelyn Milo.

The Week 2 championships will be played Nov. 27-Dec. 2.