Last of Filipinos eliminated on Day 2 of Junior Tennis Championships

MANILA, Philippines – Blown away.

As the winds swirled through the Rizal Memorial Tennis center court on a gusty Wednesday, one after the other three more Filipino players were taken to the showers by their respective superior rivals in the second round of 25^th Mitsubishi International Junior Tennis Championships.

Once the day was over, the hosts had no entries in both the boys and girls singles after just two days of the event, a huge letdown for the country’s longest-running international tennis competition celebrating its silver anniversary.  

(RELATED: Pinoys endure rough first day at Mitsubishi International Junior Tennis Championships)

First-round winner Chrislyn Coleen Sioson was the last Filipina to bow out, lasting just 40 minutes against Belgium’s  No. 2 seed Gretje Minnen, who fashioned a one-sided 6-0, 6-0 victory to easily make it to the next round.

A native of Orani, Bataan, Sioson, 14,  merely gestured with  her right hand across her throat in describing  the outcome against the taller and powerful Belgian.

Compatriots Monica Cruz and Maia Bernadette Balce, who drew opening-round byes,  lasted just a bit longer but were obviously not in the same league as their opponents.

Thirteenth seed Maddison Inglis of Australia needed only 59 minutes in crushing Cruz 6-2, 6-1 while 15^th-seeded Ramona Kingsley of the US  dumped  Balce 6-0, 6-1 in an hour and 20 minutes of action.

With the hosts getting  wiped out in the boys division on Tuesday, highlighted by Hong Kong wild card entry Jack Wong’s upset of top-rated Alberto Lim Jr., it marked the first time in a long while that a Pinoy netter failed to advance past the second round in singles play.

This is in stark contrast to last year when Jurenz Mendoza was at least able to reach the boys quarterfinals while three years ago Jeson Patrombon, who was then the top seed, lost in the finals to Australian Andrew Whittington.

Among the day’s casualties was Pinoy giant-killer Jack Wong, whose luck finally run out, but not before challenging Taiwanese No. 15 seed Richard Lin Liang Liu, who needed a third set in pulling off a 6-1, 2-6, 6-1 win.   

Both making their debuts after first-round byes were Australian top seed Hardly Bourcher and girls’ counterpart Katie Boulter of Great Britain.

Ranked No. 128 in the International Tennis Federation junior ratings,  Bourcher made short work of Singapore’s  Joshua Liu 6-1, 6-1, while Boulter took a more time in subduing New Zealand’s Bettie Cheng 6-3, 1-6, 6-1. – Rappler.com