Labasano leads Cebuana age group tennis winners

MANILA, Philippines – Jed Labasano took the boys’ 16-and-under crown while fellow local bet Michael Tuazon bagged the doubles plum with Cavite’s Rainier Selmar in the Cebuana Lhuillier Age Group Tennis Championship at the Angeles City Tennis Club in Pampanga recently.

Labasano dominated NCR’s Joseph Gadon, 6-4, 6-2, while Tuazon and Selmar got past their rivals to claim the 14-U title in the event which drew 158 entries in singles and 24 in the doubles side.

Metro Manila bet Macie Carlos scored a twinkill as she beat Althea Faye Ong from Olongapo, 6-0, 6-0, for the girls’ 12-U diadem, and routed Bulacan’s Nicole Mercado via the same score to pocket the 14-U crown.

Bataan’s Collen Sioson matched that two-title romp by defeating Patricia Lim of QC, 6-1, 6-1, for the 16-U title then trampled Aimea Rosales to nail the 18-U plum.

Ong and Anika Diwa, meanwhile, took the girls’ 18-U crown in the tournament put up by Cebuana Lhuillier president/CEO and Philta chairman Jean Henri Lhuillier and backed by Dunlop Sports as the official ball.

Cenon Gonzales Jr. from Pasig made short work of Laguna bet Adrian Encinarez, 6-1, 6-1, for the boys’ 18-U title while Aldwyn Rosales, also of QC, routed Loucas Fernandez, 6-1, 6-3, to cop the 14-U crown.

“We are heartened by the big number of entries in this Angeles City leg of the series as it shows the wide acceptance of the tournament among young players who came from different provinces and Metro Manila to compete,” said Lhuillier.