4 Filipinos yield to foreign rivals

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino bets AJ Lim, Francis Casey Alcantara and Jeson Patrombon succumbed to tough foreign opposition and bowed out in the $75,000 ATP Challenger Philippine Open at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

Lim, one of the four Filipino wild card entries here, put up a tough stand in the first set but struggled in the second and yielded a 4-6, 0-6 result to unseeded French David Guez in the tournament sponsored by the Phl Sports Commission, Phl Tennis Association and Cebuana Lhuillier’s Jean Henri Lhuillier. 

Alcantara and Patrombon took the exit the day after with the former losing to world No. 207 Amir Weintraub of Israel, 1-6, 3-6, and the latter dropping a 2-6, 2-6 decision to fifth seed Kimer Coppejans of Belgium.

Later in the night, Ruben Gonzales also lost to Dutch Igor Sijsling, 2-6, 2-6.

Patrombon, ranked 1,112th in the world, said later it was one of the toughest matches he had played in years although Coppejans was impressed with the Filipino’s speed and guts.

“He’s fast,” said Coppejans of Patrombon, now training in Taiwan.

Also advancing were top seed Luca Vanni of Italy, who trounced Frederico Ferrerira Silva of Portugal, 6-3, 6-2, and veteran Davis Cupper Go Soeda of Japan, who overcame Roberto Marcora of Italy, 7-6 (4), 6-1.

Spaniard Oriol Roca Batalla pulled the rug from under eighth pick Somdev Devvarman of India, 7-5, 6-7 (0), 7-6 (4), Monday night to likewise advance to round-of-16 of the tournament backed by Dunlop as official ball, Chris Sports as official stringer and TV5 as official broadcaster of the meet.