Otico, Capadocia snare PPS titles

Bryan Otico and Marian Capadocia came away with a pair of stunning victories over their respective fancied rivals to share top honors in the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala Pintaflores Open Tennis Championship at the Sacata Tennis Club in Negros Occidental recently.

But while the third-ranked Capadocia pulled off an imposing 6-3, 6-1 romp over the second seeded Khim Iglupas to claim the women’s crown, the 18-year-old Otico rallied from a set down and a 3-5 deficit in the second set to repel No. 2 PJ Tierro, 6-7(1), 7-5, 6-3, for the men’s diadem in the event which served as part of the host city’s Pintaflores Festival celebrations and sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop and Slazenger.

“It inspires us to see a new set of Open winners here. While Capadocia has the talent and skills to slug it out with the best, Otico proved he’s up to the task, never giving up even against a veteran rival,” said Palawan Pawnshop president/CEO Bobby Castro.

The unranked Otico earlier eased out No. 3 Fritz Verdad, 6-1, 6-2, in the quarterfinals then scored a 1-6, 6-2 (ret.) win over top seed Jeson Patrombon but lost steam against Tierro in the tiebreaker of the first set after trading serves with the veteran Davis Cupper in the first 12 games.

Tierro appeared headed to sweeping his younger rival when he stormed to 4-2, 5-3 leads in the second frame but the latter fought back and took five of the next six games, including four straight to force a decider.

Sustaining his form, Otico held serve then broke Tierro in the second game and held serve again to go 3-1. He hung tough the rest of the way by holding serve to frustrate Tierro and snatch the coveted crown worth P30,000.