LAGO UPSETS SALIMBANGON
Cebuano junior star Cesar Kristofer Salimbangon bowed to Leyte’s Sal Andrei Lago in the semis of Palawan Pawnshop Regional Age Group
Cesar Kristofer Salimbangon lost his focus and became impatient, and it turned out disastrous for the Boy's 14 & Under top seed's campaign. He lost to the better composed Sal Andrei Lago in the semifinal round of the Palawan Express Pawnshop Regional Age Group and Festival Open 2017 Juniors Group 2 tennis tournament at the Citigreen Tennis Resort in Mambaling yesterday.
The fourth-seed Lago dug deep into his bag of tricks before scoring a three-set victory in order to reach the final round that is scheduled today.
The Sogod, Southern Leyte rising star opened his campaign with a 6- 4 win in the opening set.
However, Salimbangon bounced back and scored an equally tough 6-4 win to set up a deciding set.
It was in the third set that the Cebuano tennis ace lost his patience and focus as he tried his best to deliver power shot after power shot that Lago accurately returned before scoring a 10-2 victory.
Lago will be playing eighthseed Eric Louise Longakit of Talisay City, Cebu for the Boy's 14U title.
Longakit defeated Christopher Urdaneta in three sets, 4-6, 6-2, 10-4, in the opening round, besting Hans Cabellon 6-2, 6-0 in the second round, surviving a slow start before beating no.2 seed Khenz Justiniani 1-6, 6-1, 10-5 in the quarterfinal round before retiring Diego Barrientos in the second set after leading 6-3, 3-0.
Long game
Lago, however, has earned a reputation of knocking down top seeds after he also booted out Justiniani in the semifinal round of the Boys 12& Under division with a commanding 6- 3, 6- 0 victory.
Seeded third into this category, Lago eliminated Adrian Sulada, Gio John Manito and JP Silmaro to earn the slot across the unseeded Mitch Largo of Naga City, Cebu.
Largo defeated Gabriel Tremocha 6-1, 6-0, Alejandro Barrientos 6-1, 3-6, 10-5, Clarence Tabura 6-4, 6-4 and Chad Connor Cuizon 6-2, 4-6, 10-4 to advance to the finals.
Cuizon, however, wasn't denied a spot to the finals as made it to the finals of the U10 Unisex division after beating Kerby Ramacho in the semifinal round. He will play for the title against Vincent Joseph Cañete today.
Another exciting finals match today is between Alexa Milliam of La Carlota City in Negros Occidental and Tiffany Claire Nocos of Lapu-Lapu City for the 12&Under Girls title.
The two, however, were knocking each other out for a finals slot in the Girls 14& Under category as of press time.