Francis Casey Alcantara stretches out for a forehand return against Cebuano Franklin Encarnacion (not in photo) in their Peugeot Philippine Tennis Open game yesterday at the Cebu Country Club. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
Cebuano netters Marc Norman Enriquez and Franklin Encarnacion suffered contrasting fates in the Peugeot Philippine Tennis Open (PPTO) regional qualifiers yesterday at the Cebu Country Club.
The 20-year-old Enriquez kept his championship hopes alive after scoring a dominant victory against Calvin Chung, 6-0, 6-0, to advance to the quarterfinal round.
Enriquez put on an offensive clinic in the early stages of the game, taking the fight out of Chung’s heart with a 6-0 opening set victory. He followed that up with another 6-0 win in the next set to seal the game.
But that wasn’t the case for Dumanjug’s Franklin Encarnacion, who absorbed a 0-6, 1-6 defeat against the second-ranked Francis Casey Alcantara.
Encarnacion was unable to stop the onslaught of Alcantara, who blanked him in the first set of action, 6-0.
He managed to put one up on the board in the second but it did little to help his cause as the 2009 Australian Open Boys Doubles Champion Alcantara built a huge lead that was enough to win the game.
In women’s action, Hanna Grace Espinosa became the first netter to advanced to the quarterfinals after she manhandled Jana Hernandez, 6-0, 6-1.
Espinosa will face the winner of the Keziah Adelyn Jabines-Floreza Alesna battle today.
Also in women’s play, Jana Marie Pages and two-time Batang Pinoy gold medalist Elizabeth Abarquez hurdled Annika Mallari, 6-1, 6-1, and Kimberly Keethler (WO), respectively to move to the next round.
As of press time, the 15-year old Marc Suson is taking on one of the biggest challenges of his young career as he battles the 35-year old Davis Cupper Johnny Arcilla while 16-year old Jan Godfrey Seno is going up against Luke Alquin Flores for a spot in the quarterfinals.