Elite field vies in Phinma jr tennis

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s leading junior netters and a slew of international aces brace for a two-week long battle for tennis supremacy when the Phinma International Juniors Tennis Championships fires off Nov. 19 at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

Twenty-two players have been seeded into the main draw in the boys’ division with 26 more set to slug it out for the last 10 slots in the two-day qualifiers on Nov. 17-18.

The event is put up by the Phinma Group of Companies and sanctioned by the Philippine Tennis Association.

Vying for seats in the 32-player main draw are Eric Olivarez Jr., Andrew Cano, Dave Mosqueda, Joachim Samson, Jose Nicholas Cano, Stefan Suarez, Jeremiah Tomacruz, Vince Salas and John Decasa.

The qualifying sign-in is set Saturday,  until 6 p.m. at Referee’s Room c/o tournament supervisor Wannawit Srirasa of Thailand.

Anthony Susanto and Arief Rahman, Indonesia’s No. 4 and 5, respectively, head the main draw, which  includes Taiwanese Yi Wei Huang, Chang Wu Lu and Ho Jun Lee, South Africa’s Phillip Johan de Bruyn and Japan’s Shoma Kato.

Roxanne Resma leads the hosts’ bid in the girls’ side of the Grade 4 tournament backed by the Philippine Sports Commission, Dunlop Fort All Court Balls, Wilkins and Viva Mineral Water.

Other local bets in the main draw are Maia Balce, Khim Iglupas and Katrina Orteza while vying in the qualifiers are Isabella Orteza, Jzash Canja, Andrea Amistad, Isabella Mendoza, Angela Sunga and Jade Charito Capadocia.

Week 2 is set Nov. 26-Dec. 1 with the qualifying sign-in slated on Nov. 23 and the elims to be held on Nov. 24-25.