Ibarra Ortega plays a sliced backhand to Jose Maria Pague during their 16-under boys semifinal game in the Cebuana Lhuillier tennis tournament at the Citigreen Tennis Resort in Labangon. Paque won to make the final. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
Cebuana netter Elizabeth Abarquez and Sultan Kudarat’s Carlyn Bless Guarde are on the verge of pulling off a twin kill in the 11th Cebuana Lhuillier Age Group Tennis Circuit.
Standing on their way…..are each other.
Abarquez and Guarde square off in the finals of the 16-under girls and 18-under girls divisions today at the Citigreen Tennis Resort in Punta Princesa, Cebu.
The 15-year old Abarquez, ranked No. 3 by PHILTA crushed Minette Bentillo, 6-4, 6-0 in the 16-under and Ghylliana Yu, 6-1, 6-2 in the 18-under girls semis.
“I will just be ready against Guarde since she is a very tough opponent. We had some battles before and as long as I can remember, our games were very close,” said Abarquez.
Guarde on the other hand, outlasted Sydney Enriquez, 6-3, 3-6, 10-1 in the 16-under girls semifinals then dumped Cebuana Shyne Villareal, 6-2, 6-4 in the 18-under girls final 4.
Abarquez and Guarde will play for the 16-under crown at 8am while their final match in the 18-under division is slated at 11am today.
Meanwhile in boys play, visiting netter Vince EJ Tugade also booked two finals slots highlighted by an upset victory over top-seeded Jose Antonio Tria, 6-2, 6-0 in the 16-under boys division.
Tugade who hails from Sultan Kudarat, also advanced to the championship in the 18-under boys after routing Naga City’s Marc Nicole Suson, 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinals. He will play Zamboanga Peninsula’s Jose Maria Pague who earlier drubbed Ibarra Ortega, 6-1, 6-4.
Despite the loss, the 16-year old Suson still has a chance of snatching a title as he looks to exact revenge against Tugade in the 16-under boys finals.
In the 16-under semis, the fourth seed Suson came back from an opening set meltdown to stun second ranked Marcus Del Rosario, 2-6, 7-5, 10-7.
In other games, Lapu Lapu City’s Chad Cuizon and Tiffany Claire Nocos also claimed championship tickets in their respective divisions.
The nine-year old Cuizon survived Gio Manito, 5-3, 4-0 to advance into the 10-unisex finals against Bryzen Sanchez.
Nocos on the other hand registered a lopsided 6-2, 6-0 victory over Happy Garcia to move into the 12-under finals against Corazon Lambonao.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
