Enriquez makes it two in PPS Salug netfest

Sydney Ezra Enriquez completed another two-title run in the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Pera Padala age-group circuit, this time in big fashion as she did it before hometown crowd at the Uswag Salug Tennis Courts in Zamboanga del Norte.

Enriquez eased out top seed Rica Labrador, 6-3, 6-0, in the semis then blasted Princess Gom-os to clinch the girls’ 16-and-under singles crown in the PPS Salug leg sponsored and hosted by Mayor Jeffrey Lim. The local ace, however, struggled in the 18-U finals, needing to come up with clutch shots to foil Gom-os, 7-5, 7-6(3), and duplicate her feat in last week’s Liloy stop of the circuit presented by Dunlop.

Aslan Carbonilla matched Enriquez’s exploits as the Abaga, Lanao del Norte bet crushed Glenn Dadan, 6-0, 6-0, and stopped Russel Daarol, 6-3, 6-3, to pocket the 12- and 14-U titles, respectively, in the boys’ side of the Group 2 tournament put up by Palawan Pawnshop, headed by president/CEO Bobby Castro.

Other winners in the event, backed by Asiatraders Corp. and sanctioned by the Unified Tennis Philippines, made up of PPS-PEPP, Cebuana Lhuillier, Wilson, Toby’s, Dunlop, Slazenger and B-Meg, were Zamboanga Sibugay’s Jose Maria Pague, Nilo Ledama from Pagadian City, Zambo del Sur’s Garlandson Ardiente, Faith Regencia from Liloy and Sindangan’s Labrador.

Pague routed top seed Ledama, 6-2, 6-1, to nail the boys’ 18-U diadem; Ledama bounced back in the 16-U finals with a 6-2, 6-0 romp over Lex Estillore; Ardiente took the 10-unisex plum with a 4-0, 4-1 rout of Bryzen Sanchez; Regencia dismantled Murielle Baje, 6-2, 6-3, for the girls’ 12-U crown; and Labrador rebounded from a semis loss in 18-U play with a 6-0, 6-0 demolition of top seed Jalia Elumba in the 14-U finale.

Enriquez also teamed up with Faith Virgo to claim her third crown via an 8-6 escape over Gom-os and Rocel Rosales in the 18-U doubles finals with Pague also claiming the boys’ title in partnership with Carbonilla via an 8-3 rout of Ledama and Nick Akiatan.

Meanwhile, action shifts to Sindangan on Sept. 7-10 while Lanao del Norte will host the next stop on Sept. 14-17, Listup is ongoing. For details, call PPSPEPP Program Development director Bobby Mangunay at 0915-4046464.