Carlos, Angara advance in Asian Under-14 meet

FILIPINO junior netters Maria Carmencita Isabela Carlos and Edgardo Manuel Angara overpowered their respective foes in the opener to advance to the second round of the 2017 Asian Under-14 Tennis Championship being held at the Lawn Tennis Association of Thailand Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

The top-seeded Carlos posted an easy 6-1, 6-2 victory over Kang Na Lim of South Korea in the girls’ singles while Angara also cruised to the next phase by blasting Permpoon Teeratanee of Thailand, 6-1, 6-1, in the boys’ singles.

Carlos arranged a second-round meeting with wild card Noelle Vivian Faber of Singapore, who stunned Puckaporn Jirachavala of Thailand, 6-3, 6-4, in the tournament organized by the Asian Tennis Federation.

Angara needs to bring his A-game as he goes up against top pick Chathurya Nilaweera of Sri Lanka, who secured an opening-round bye. In doubles, Carlos has Zhang Yu Jie of China as partner. They earned a first-round bye to get an automatic passage into the quarterfinals. They will face the winner between Faber and Kang, and Jannat Kaur Anand of India and Erika Terada of Japan.

On the other hand, Angara plays side by side with Jared Jia-Sheng Leong of Malaysia.

Angara and Leong battle Malaysians Izmal Mohammed Farroukh and Izran Mohammed Farroukh in quarterfinals.

Angara and Leong, as well as the Farroukh brothers got byes in the first round.

Meanwhile, reigning Philippine Columbian Association Open champion John Bryan Otico is now ranked 131st in the International Tennis Federation world ranking – 77 spots higher than his position at the start of the season.

Phinma-ITF Week 2 winner Arthur Craig Pantino also improved from 297th to 267th spot.