De Asis, Legaspi share PPS Mindoro honors

MANILA, Philippines – Kiana de Asis and Lorenzo Legaspi of Aklan scored a twin-kill each as they stamped their class in the Mindoro leg of the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala regional tennis circuit at the Pinamalayan Tennis Club yesterday.

De Asis recovered from a 3-6, 6-2, 3-10 setback to fellow La Carlota, Negros bet and fancied Tracy Llamas in the girls’ 16-and-under finals by toppling the top-seeded bet in the premier 18-U championship, 7-5, 6-3.

The 14-year-old De Asis earlier subdued Amanda Zoleta of Lucena City in another thrilling three-setter, 3-6, 6-3, 10-5, to pocket the 14-U crown in the Group 2 tournament sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop and presented by Slazenger.

The sixth-ranked Legaspi, on the other hand, dominated No. 2 Rewell Justiniani of La Carlota, 6-1, 6-1, to cop the boys’ 18-U crown then completed his two-title romp by scoring a 1-0 (ret.) win over Justiniani in the 16-U finals of the five-day event sanctioned by the Philippine Tennis Association and backed by Asiatraders Corp., exclusive  distributor of Slazenger, the official ball.

“De Asis and Legaspi proved they can be ranged with and win over older, more experienced opponents given the proper training and motivation. Palawan Pawnshop has committed itself to provide these youngsters year-round competitions to further toughen up and help raise the level of their respective games,” said Palawan Pawnshop president/CEO Bobby Castro.

Justiniani, however, salvaged a win in the 14-U class, fighting back from an opening set setback to foil Luis Henderin, 4-6, 7-5, 10-7, while Khenz Justiniani and Lucena City bet Julia Ignacio split the 12-U crowns with the former trouncing Marcus Guinoo, 6-1, 6-4, in the boys’ finals and the latter routing Keisha Lopez, 6-0, 6-0.