PH beats Pakistan in World Juniors tennis pre-qualifying tourney

THE PHILIPPINES kicked off its campaign in the Asia/Oceania Pre-Qualifying of the World Juniors Tennis Championships with a 2-1 victory over Pakistan in Group A of the boys competition on Monday at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association Centre in Colombo City.

Marc Andrei Jarata won the first singles match over Sami Zeb Khan, 7-6 (2), 6-1. He teamed up with Axl Lajon Gonzaga in the doubles to beat Hasheesh Kumar and Uzair Uzair, 5-7, 6-2, 10-8.

Rupert Tortal bowed to Kumar, 4-6, 3-6, in the second singles match.

Top seed Qatar, represented by Rashed Nawk Naif, Ibrahim Eid Al Suliti and Nasser Ahmad Alyafei, will face Pakistan on Tuesday and the Philippines on Wednesday.

Kuwait, Iran and Saudi Arabia are in Group B while Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Laos and Singapore are in Group C.

"I am satisfied with the performance of the team. The boys gave their best against Pakistan. Hopefully, we can beat Qatar in our next match," said coach Johnny Arcilla in an interview on Tuesday morning.

A victory over Qatar will give the Philippines an outright berth in the semifinal round where it will wait for the winner of the quarterfinal match between Group B-2 and Group C-2.

The No. 1 team in Group B will automatically earn a Final Four slot. It will meet the winner between Group C-1 and Group A-2.

Meanwhile, Kuwait downed Saudi Arabia, 2-1, in Group B while Malaysia beat Laos, 2-1, and Sri Lanka against Singapore, 3-0, in Group C in the first round.

Other matches scheduled were second seed Iran against Saudi Arabia, third seed Malaysia against Singapore, and fourth seed Sri Lanka against Laos. PNA