Coyiuto, Sunga clinch Alabang tennis plums

MANILA, Philippines - Samantha Mae Coyiuto outlasted Rachelle De Guzman in a thrilling marathon finale, 7-6, 2-6, 7-5, to claim the premier girls’ 18-and-under title of the Alabang 1018 Age Group Tennis Championships yesterday at the Alabang Country Club.

Surviving three match points at 5-4 in the deciding third set, Coyiuto leaned on her crunching crosscourt returns to emerge victorious in the match that took a grueling three hours and thirty minutes to settle.

“I had a hard time analyzing her weakness and pouncing on them. She’s a power player who plays real steady. Fortunately, I was able to make the adjustments and make big shots at the right moment,” said the 16-year-old Coyiuto of her finals rival.

Juan Alfonso Opulencia banked on his experience and familiarity with the ACC’s hard courts in drubbing Andrew Joshua Cano, 63-63, to snare the boys’ 18-U title in the tournament organized by former national player Tonico Climent, Rose Tiamson, Chuck Lazaro and Romy Chan.

“I noticed that he (Cano) was a little impatient in the baseline so my tactic was to play steady long rallies and make net incursions of opportunity called for it,” Opulencia said.

Like Coyuito, Maria Angela Sunga went through the wringer before capturing the girls’ 16-U tiara at the expense of a hard-fighting Erika Manduriao, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, in their nerve-wracking three-hour finale.

Still, it was a successful sting for Manduriao as she stunned Maia Balce, 7-5, 6-4 to crown herself champion in the 14-U.

Monica Cruz turned back Rafaella Villanueva, 6-3, 6-1, to emerge the 12-U champion in the third edition of the netfest held as part of Alabang Country Club’s commitment to the development of junior tennis player.

In the boys’ division, Michael Eala pounced on his modern “crying-game” style to secure the 10-U and 12-U diadems at the expense of Mavarick Legaspi, 6-1, 6-1, and Jerome Romualdez, 6-4, 7-6, respectively.

Rounding up the winners after one week of action featuring a sizeable number of competitors were Eric Olivarez, who drubbed Marcen Gonzales, 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, for the boys’ 14-U mint, and LA Canizares, who nipped Andrew Joshua Cano, 7-6, 6-3, to secure the boys’ 16-U title.