Arcilla rules PPS San Carlos Open as Pague retires

MANILA, Philippines – Johnny Arcilla hoisted another men’s singles Open trophy in abbreviated fashion, clinching the PPS-PEPP San Carlos City National Tennis Championships as Jose Maria Pague retired in the second set due to groin injury in Negros Occidental recently.

Arcilla used his veteran smarts to fashion out a 6-3 romp in the opening set marked by long baseline rallies and booked another championship following a 6-4, 6-4 victory over doubles partner Ronard Joven in the Puerto Princesa Open last September.

While the top-seeded Davis Cup campaigner advanced to the finals with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Jelic Amazona, the No. 2 Pague went through a wringer before subduing seventh ranked Nilo Ledama, 6-2, 5-7, 13-11, in the semis of the annual event sponsored by Mayor Rene Gustilo and held in conjunction with the city’s Pintaflores Festival celebrations.

Arcilla, a nine-time PCA Open champion, broke Pague right in the opener and kept the cushion by trading serves with the recent Buglasan Open winner in the next seven games. He then rallied from 0-30 in the ninth and swept the next four points to win the set and the highlight match of the week-long event held side-by-side with the juniors division put up by Palawan Pawnshop president/CEO Bobby Castro.

Arcilla, 42, later teamed up with Rodolfo Barquin and held off Ledama and Bryan Saarenas, 6-4, 6-2, to complete a twinkill in the men’s doubles while Espie Divinagracia and Joana Tan took the women’s plum over Rosalie Clelo and Maddy Thomas, 6-2, in the tournament backed by ProtekTODO, PalawanPay, the Unified Tennis Philippines and UTR (Universal Tennis Rating).

Sharing the top podium finish were Inno Solo and Andrew Sojor, who topped the Legend’s men’s doubles 40s over Japeth Bartolome and Jojo Enad, 8-7(3); and Danilo Sajonia and Arturo Virata, who pocketed the 50s diadem over Jojie Ansula and Paul Allego, 8-4.

Sajonia likewise topped the Legends men’s singles 45 age-group over Roy Tan, 8-2, while Mclean Barraquias bagged the 35 singles plum via the same scoreline against Jun Tabura.