Tierro outwits Spanish rival, makes Olivarez Cup quarters

MANILA, Philippines - Patrick John Tierro unnerved Spain’s Adam Sanjurjo Hermida with a variety of shots in the final two sets as he eked out a come-from-behind 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 victory to remain the lone Filipino survivor in the singles event of the $15,000 Olivarez-Cup-Philippine International Men’s Tennis Championship at the Rizal Tennis Center yesterday.

After trying and failing to overpower his Spanish foe, Tierro, 27, changed tactics as he unloaded an array of shots that took the sting out of his opponent for the win that sent him straight to the quarterfinal round of this event bankrolled by tennis chief Edwin Olivarez.

“I knew I couldn’t beat him (Hermida) strength-for-strength so I decided to change tactics and varied my shots in the second and third sets,” said Tierro, a member of the Phl Davis Cup team that will play Pakistan in a Group II tie at the PCA courts from April 4 to 6.

“Thankfully it worked to my advantage as it got to him and was never the same the rest of the way,” he added.

The win also stopped Hermida giant-slaying spree after pulling the rug from under No. 7 Ivo Minar of Czech Republic, a member of the team headed by Tom Berdych and Radek Stepanek that won the 2012 Davis Cup title over Spain, with a 7-6(5), 6-2 romp in Wednesday’s first round.

Tierro will face with another Spaniard, this time a higher ranked Roberto Ortega-Olmedo, the No. 4 seed who booted out countryman Carlos Boluda Purkiss, 6-3, 6-2.

Davis Cupper Johnny Arcilla fell to No. 5 Andrew Whittington of Australia, 6-4, 6-2.

“It’s now up to him,” said the 37-year-old Arcilla, the winningest PCA Open champion with seven titles, of Tierro.

Fil-Am Ruben Gonzales, for his part, teamed up with former Southeast Asian Games gold medallist Sonchat Ratiwatana as the top-seeded tandem waylaid Chinese Taipei’s Ho Chih Jen and Hung Jui Chen, 6-3, 6-3, in the men’s doubles.

Gonzales and Ratiwatana will next face Hermida and Shuichi Sekiguchi, who outlasted Arcilla and Kyle Joshua Dandan, 6-4, 3-6, 10-5.

In other singles results, fancied Benjamin Mitchell of Australia outclassed Chinese Taipei’s Yu Cheng Yu, 6-3, 6-2, while Chen Ti of Chinese Taipei downed compatriot Ho Chih Jen, 6-1, 6-3.

Other quarterfinalists were No. 6 Ivo Klec of Slovakia, a 6-4, 6-1 winner over Canadian qualifier Kelsey Stevenson; No. 3 Shuichi Sekiguchi, who blasted Kittipong Wachieamanawong of Thailand, 6-3, 6-2; and No. 8 Karunuday Singh of India, who trampled Punn Bodhidatta of Thailand, 6-3, 6-4.