Mia Gemida scores hattrick in PPS age-group meet

MANILA, Philippines — Mia Gemida crushed top seed Corazon Lambonao twice to emerge the lone double gold medalist in the PPS-PEPP Baybay national age-group tennis tournament at Baybay City Tennis Club in Leyte over the weekend.

Gemida surprised fellow Ormoc City bet Lambonao in the girls’ 16-and-under finals, 6-3, 6-2, then toughened up in the second set to score a repeat in the 18-U championship, 6-3, 7-5, and bag MVP honors in the Group 2 tournament presented by Dunlop.

She actually finished with three titles as she later teamed up with Cassandra Laguna to rout Annah Gonzaga and Nicky Rizada, 8-2, in the 18-U doubles finals.

The young Lambonao, meantime, averted a shutout campaign by ruling the 14-U division, holding off Kimi Brodeth, 6-2, 6-4, while Jewel Velasco from Maasin City dominated the 12-U category with a 6-2, 6-0 triumph over Brodeth.

Nicolas Ocat, from Valencia, completed the Ormoc City bets’ romp in the four-day event which is part of the nationwide Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala age-grouper, upending No. 1 Gerald Gemida, 6-4, 6-3, in the boys’ 14-U finals.