PHILIPPINE National Junior tennis team’s Arthur Craig “Iggy” Pantino, Michael Francis Eala II and Marcus del Rosario stumbled in their bid to advance into the next round of the Asia/Oceania final qualifying rounds for the 2015 ITF World Junior Tennis in Bangkok, Thailand after bowing down to the Korean team, 0-2, in the quarterfinals yesterday.
A win versus the New Zealand squad in today’s match would put the Cebuano Pantino and the rest of his national teammates at the 5th or 6th spot, otherwise, “We will be playing for 7th or 8th”, del Rosario said in a post in his Facebook account.
Before last Thursday’s loss to Korea’s Minjong Park, 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, in the first singles event, Pantino scored a 6-4, 6-0 win over Chinese Taipei’s Chang Lin Tsai in last Monday’s first singles event.
The Cebuano ace, alongside Michael Francis Eala II, though, later yielded to the tandem of Tsai and Chun Hseng Tseng in the doubles event.
Last Tuesday, Pantino scored a 6-0, 6-4 win in the first singles event over Thailand’s Pawin Jirapoomdaje but lost in the doubles event after he and partner Marcus del Rosario bowed down to Jirapoomdaje and Natthayut Nithithananont, 2-6, 7-6 (5), 4-6.
The Philippines is currently at the 2nd spot in Group D with two wins against a loss, while Chinese-Taipei is at the top with an immaculate 3-0 win-loss card.
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