Pinoy bets booted out in Mitsubishi ladies doubles

Just like the others, RP bets Bien Zoleta and Ivy de Castro fell prey to the awesome foreign challenge as the two crashed out in the ladies’ doubles of the 14th Mitsubishi Lancer Group I International Tennis Championships at the Rizal Tennis Center.

But the 14-year-old tandem of Zoleta and de Castro bowed out in style, seizing the first set with a solid baseline game before getting swamped by the power duo of Kelly de Beer and Pasquale Jansma of the Netherlands in the last two sets, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Despite the setback, Zoleta and de Castro, who topped the 14-and-under section of tournaments in Perlis and Penang, Malaysia early this year, were satisfied with their performance.

"We came here just to get the exposure we want because we know we’re still young and we have a lot of things to learn," said de Castro of Quezon City.

"We were playing good tennis in the first set but they found the groove in the second and third sets," Zoleta, a Lucena City, Quezon native who made it into the semifinals of the Philta Open in Parañaque last month, for her part, said.

The loss of Zoleta and de Castro left Czarina Mae Arevalo, who spearheads the Philippine campaign in the Federation Cup later this month in Tokyo, Japan, and Alyssa Labay to carry the fight for host Philippines.

Arevalo, the country’s No. 1 lady netter, has teamed up with Chinese Sun Shengnan while Labay, who lost to Petricia Santos in the Philta Open finals, is partnered with German Anja Vanessger Peter..

Heavy favorites Chris Kwon of the United States and Montinee Tangphong of Thailand were shown the door by their lesser ranked foes. Kwon, ranked fourth in the world juniors ranking, was trailing 7-5, 3-6, 2-4 before retiring due to dehydration and cramps, losing to William Ward of New Zealand.

Tangphong, ranked No. 32 in the world, for her part, got the boot from 15th seed Tara Iyer of India, 6-3, 6-3, to complete the pair of third round shockers in this weeklong meet.