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.