Arevalo looms as RP’s hope in Mitsubishi tilt

Now it’s up to local lass Czarina Mae Arevalo to carry the fight for host Philippines.

This after Arevalo’s compatriots fell by the wayside in yesterday’s start of the 14th Mitsubishi Lancer Group I International Junior Tennis Championships at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

First to fall was Yannick Guba, who bowed to World No. 117 Australian Lachlan Ferguson, 6-2, 6-3, on a day participants had to endure the sweltering heat.

Then followed Arithmetico Lim, Irwin de Guzman, Jandrick de Castro, PJ Tierro and Nestor Celestino Jr., who failed to hurdle their assignments in the boys’ division where American Chris Kwon, ranked No. 4 in the world, loomed as the player to beat.

Of the RP bets that crashed out of this week-long meet, de Guzman put up a gallant stand before succumbing to Chatwinderind Singh in a grinding 3-6, 6-7 (6) result.

The others were swept away by the foreign challenge with Lim losing to Matthew Brown of Great Britain, 6-0, 6-1; De Castro falling against Clint Harris of Australia, 6-3, 6-2; Tierro absorbing a 6-1, 6-0 bashing from Yao-lun Chang of Chinese Taipei; and Celestino skidding down versus Alexander Petropoulos of Australia, 6-1, 6-1.

What remains from the RP team are the 16th seeded Arevalo, who drew a first round bye, and lady campaigners Ivy Kristhei de Castro, Ara Micayabas, Kristhi Anne Louise Samala, Alyssa Labay, Noelle Zoleta and Catherine Flores.

Despite the string of setbacks, there is still hope with Arevalo, who improved to 150 in the world rankings after strong performances in tournaments in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

Arevalo, the reigning Philippine Columbian Association Open champion, hopes to give the country something to cheer about as she guns for a victory over the winner between Ali Van Horne of the United States and Natalie Tanevska of Australia, who are still playing at presstime.

Arevalo, who spearheads the country’s campaign in the Federation Cup late this month in Tokyo, Japan along with Patricia Santos and Francesca La’O, is aiming at least a quarterfinal finish to get enough points to qualify in the juniors’ section of the grand slam US open.