Balce stuns No. 3, barges into Phinma Int’l quarters

MANILA, Philippines - Unranked Maia Balce pulled through in a tough first-set duel then sustained her form to complete a 7-5, 6-2 victory over third seed Zhibek Kulambayeva of Kazakhstan and barge into the quarterfinal round of the Phinma-PSC International Juniors Tennis Championships – Week 1 at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center yesterday.

Balce, a 16-year-old talent from St. Paul’s Pasig, put her solid baseline game on display the whole match to unsettle Kulambayeva and snatch a ticket to the Last 8 of the Grade 4 ITF (International Tennis Federation) 18-Under category event sponsored by the Phinma Group of Companies, Philippine Sports Commission and Mariposa Foundation.

The victory set up the Filipina bet for a crack at a semifinal berth against No. 7 Satoko Sueno of Japan, who also struggled past Thai Thassaporn Naklo, 6-3, 7-5, in the lower half of the 32-player girls’ singles draw of the week-long tournament sanctioned by the Philippine Tennis Association with Dunlop Fort All Court as the official ball.

Top seed Khim Iglupas, meanwhile, rolled into the quarters with an easy 6-1, 6-1 romp over Singapore’s Charmaine Seah and will take on No. 6 Ayumi Miyamoto of Japan, who clobbered Thaiand’s Parima Leenabanchong, 6-1, 6-2.

But while Balce and Iglupas stayed on track, compatriots Monica Therese Cruz and Maria Dominique Ong fell by the wayside via straight-set setbacks to Japan’s Ramu Ueda, 6-1, 6-2, and fifth-ranked Indonesian Rifanty Kahfiani, 6-1, 6-1, respectively.

Taiwan’s Yuelin Chen booted out second seed Qi Li Ma of China, 7-5, 6-4, to arrange a quarters clash with Kahfiani in the event, backed by PSC for the free use of RMTC and Asiatraders Corp for the Dunlop balls.