Cuevas, Anghag pull off PPS Ozamiz thrillers

ANDREI CUEVAS and Janmarie Anghag hacked out a pair of threeset victories to share top honors in the 16-and-under division of the Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala Ozamiz regional tennis tournament at the City Engineers, Naomis Gardens and SDA tennis courts in Ozamiz City on Monday.

Cuevas rallied from a set down to stun the top seeded Steven Sonsona, 4-6, 6-1, 10-4, then the Tubod, Lanao del Norte bet blasted emerge the lone double winner in the Group 2 tournament sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop and presented by Slazenger.

Anghag, on the other hand, blew an opening set lead but recovered in the tiebreak to score a 6-3, 1-6, 10-7 decision over Wyne Paglinawan. She, however, failed to match Cuevas’ feat as she fell to fellow local ace Carmenville Gervacio, 6-4, 6-0, in the 18-U championship.

Rica Labrador, of Sindagan, Zambo del Norte, scored a 6-3(ret.) win over Guia Bandolis to clinch the girls’ 14-U title while Judyann Padilla, another rising star from the host province, upended Bandolis, 4-6, 6-3, 10-6, to snatch the hosted by Ian Villanueva, also the - pines for Northern Mindanao.

Eric Tangub, from Tukuran, Zambo del Sur, dominated Lex Estillore, 6-2, 6-2, to pocket the boys’ 14- U crown; Heinz Carbonilla from Maranding, Lanao del Norte, took the 12-U plum with a 6-1, 6-2 romp over Andrei Padao; while Kapatagan, Lanao del Norte’s Vinz AJ Bering routed Kale Villamar, 4-2, 4-1, to nail the 10-unisex title.

“With only one player winning 2 titles underscores the level playing we take pride in giving everybody a chance to excel through our weekly tournaments in various provinces,” said Palawan Pawnshop president/ CEO Bobby Castro.

Anghag and Gervacio later teamed up to capture the 18-U doubles title via an 8-2 rout of Laisha Echon and Paglinawan; while siblings Judy-Ann and Carmel Padilla took the 14-U crown with an 8-5 victory over Bandolis and Angel Denopol in the tour- nament backed by the Unified Tennis Group, composed of Cebuana Lhuillier, PPS-PEPP, Wilson, Toby’s, BMeg, Citigreen, Babolat and Tru-Flex.

Mark Malinis and Uzziel Pepito stunned Cuevas and Sonsona, 8-2, to bag the boys’ 18-U doubles diadem; Padao and Ashton Villanueva edged Carbonilla and Eric Tangub, - ing and Kale Villamar pocketed the 10-U doubles plum with an 8-2 victory over Denopol and Sean Esick.

Meanwhile, listup for the next leg in Molave, Zamboanga del Sur set October 4 to 9 is ongoing, according to PPS- PEPP sports program development director Bobby Mangunay. For details, call 09154046464.