Dhea Cua lived up to the hype in girls’ 14-U play while James Aquino bucked the odds in boys’ 16-U as they led the winners in the upset-marred PPS-PEPP Rep. John Tracy Cagas national age group tennis championships in Digos, Davao del Sur last Sunday.
Cua and Aquino, however, missed completing a double victory each as they came up short in the 16- and 18-U finals, respectively, but clinched the MVP honors with 1-2 finishes in the Group 2 tournament at the Digos City Tennis Club’s hard courts.
The top-seeded Cua, 14, dropped just three points in three games to dominate her age group, capping her romp with a 6-2, 6-0 rout of Aika Salahuddin in the finals. But the rising Kidapawan City star fell short against Tagum City’s Chelsea Bernaldez, yielding a 6-4, 3-6, 14-12 result, in the 16-U championship.
The seventh-ranked Aquino, also from Tagum, repulsed No. 2 Randy Pausanos, 6-2, 6-2, in the semis then crushed top seed Josh Lim, 6-1, 6-0, to snare the boys’ 16-U plum in the country’s longest talent-search put up by Palawan Pawnshop.
But Aquino wavered in the boys’ 18-U finals, bowing to fellow unranked Jude Padao from Digos, 6-3, 6-7(4), 10-6. The local bet stunned No. 1 Vince Serna, 2-6, 6-0, 10-4, in the semis, while Aquino upended No. 6 Derek Napala, 0-6, 6-3, 10-8.
Meanwhile, action shifts to Puerto Princesa City on Sept. 20-30 for the Juniors and Open championships, along with the Legends tournament at the Karawatan PPS tennis courts.
Stephen Fuertes, another local campaigner, also repulsed the top-ranked Lim in 14-U semis, 6-4, 6-3, then foiled No. 4 Jason Battad, 6-1, 7-5, to snatch the crown, while No. 4 Angel Vosotros from Lanao del Norte scored a 7-5(ret.) win over third seed Juliana Carvajal, also from the host city, in the finals of the premier girls’ division.
Unranked Princess Placa also recorded a resounding 6-0, 6-0 win over No. 1 and fellow Digos native Clausxie Flores in girls’ 12-U with Pigcawayan, Cotabato’s Julius Otoc held off Carl Eduarte from Kidapawan, 6-1, 7-6(5), to claim the boys’ crown in the youngest age category of the event hosted by Gov. Cagas and backed by ProtekTODO, PalawanPay, the Unified Tennis Philippines and UTR (Universal Tennis Rating).
