Resma saves day for Phl in Phinma tilt

MANILA, Philippines - Roxanne May Resma saved the day for the Philippines as she bucked the foreign charge in the Phinma International Juniors Week 2 tournament yesterday at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

The fourth-seeded Resma pulled off a 7-6 (6), 6-3 triumph over Japanese qualifier Yu Fujioka to advance to the Round of 16 of the girls’ singles, making up for the sorry losses of the other local bets in the other first-round matches.

Taking their exits were Isabella Orteza, Jzash Eale Canja, Dave Sebastian Mosqueda, Andrew Joshua Cano and Eric Olivarez Jr., who couldn’t get past the challenge of their foreign rivals.

Orteza bowed to Japanese second seed Shiori Fukuda, the double champion of Week 1, 0-6, 1-6 while wild card Canja fell to No. 1 Japanese Chihiro Muramatsu, 1-6, 1-6 and bowed out of the event put up by the Phinma Group of Companies and sanctioned by the Philippine Tennis Association with the Philippine Sports Commission, Dunlop Fort All Court Balls, Wilkins and Viva Mineral Waters as chief backers.

Wild cards Mosqueda and Cano suffered the same fate in the boys’ singles, absorbing losses to No. 1 and Week 1 titlist Wei-Dei Lin of Chinese Taipei, 2-6, 2-6, and second seed Shoma Kato of Japan, 0-6, 2-6, respectively.

Olivarez fell short in a three-setter against Yong Jie Isaac Ong, dropping a heart-breaking 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (4) decision to the Singaporean.