Otico, Rivera roll into Phinma quarters

IN-FORM Bryan Otico knocked off another rival in straight- set fashion while Shaira Rivera sustained her form and stunned No. 4 Wing Ka Lin of Hong Kong as they moved into the quarter Juniors Tennis Championships Week 2 at the Manila Polo Club in Forbes Park on Thursday.

The top- seeded Otico, winner of the PCA Open last week who eased out Japanese Nowa Matsubayashi, 6- 3, 6- 2, last Tuesday, clobbered Malaysian Danial Ahmad Farid, 6- 2, 6- 1, to roll into the quarters against the winner in the Jericho Grollman of the US- Odeda Arazza of Indonesia duel.

Arthur Pantino, runner- up in Week I of the Group 4 ITF ( International Tennis Federation) 18- and- under event sponsored by the Philippine Investment Management Consultants ( Phinma) and Technifiber, also gained a berth in the Last 8 with a 6- 4, 6- 2 decision over Hong Kong’s Marvin Lee. He will next face the victory in the Ryota Ishii of Japan- Shamirul Adam Das of Malaysia clash being played at presstime.

Also advancing to the quar- ters is Taiyo Yamanaka of Japan, who subdued Darrshan Suresh of Malaysia, 6- 1, 6- 3, in the upper half of the 32- player draw of the event sanctioned by the Philippine Tennis Association ( Philta).

Rivera, on the other hand, upended Wing, 6- 1, 6- 2, as she crashed into Last 8 in the girls’ side that includes No. 2 Punnin Kovapitukted, Lisa Mays of Australia, Chinese Jingyi Li, Elizabeth Stevens of the US and Week I champion American Nicole Hammond.

Kovapitukted toppled China’s Fangran Tian, 6- 4, 6- 1; Mays scored a 6- 4, 5- 2 ( ret.) win over Sakura Kurokawa of Japan; Li, who upset top seed Chang Ting- Pei of Taiwan in the first round, held off Annika Kannan of India, 6- 3, 6- 3; Stevens repulsed Charmaine Yi Seah of Singapore, 7- 5, 6- 7( 6), 6- 4; and Hammond came away with a 6- 0, ( ret.) victory over Xuanjin Li of China.

No. 7 Saki Oyama trounced Malaysian Elysia Wa n , 6- 2, 6- 3; while No. 8 Yuna Ohashi, also of Japan, crushed Sheena Karrasch of Hong Kong, 6- 1, 6- 3.