Martin clips Cuevas, cops Head net crown

MANILA, Philippines - Jacob Martin kept the momentum of his rousing victory the last time out as he held off Andre Cuevas, 6-4, 6-4, to capture the boys’ 16-and-under crown in the 17th Head Graphene XT junior tennis satellite circuit in Cagayan de Oro City recently.

The top-seeded Martin, 14, stayed in control with his solid baseline game while breaking Cuevas once in each set to fashion out the victory and lead the winners in the ranking event which featured some of the country’s leading and rising junior players.

It was the second straight victory in as many weeks for the Xavier School standout, who also copped the 16-U diadem in the Mayor Rudy Duterte Araw ng Dabaw age-grouper two weeks ago.

On his way to the finals, Martin whipped John Renest Sonsona, 6-2, 6-2, after an opening round bye then whitewashed Jed Cyrus Juaro, 6-0, 6-0, in the quarterfinal round.

But he struggled against Matt Steve Palasan in the semis, dropping the opening set before dominating the decider to hack out a 5-7, 6-4, 10-3 win.

“I just played aggressive and I was glad to have overcome Palasan in the semis and then Cuevas in the finals,” said Martin, who trains under coach Pio Tolentino.

Martin next competes in the Henry Lee Memorial age-group tournament at the Manila Polo Club.