Doubles play winding down

The semifinals and quarterfinals of the doubles competition of the 2nd Verizon Cup were played Sunday, a day after the entire schedule was wiped out at the American Memorial Park tennis courts.

In the men’s open, veteran Lope Padilla and newcomer Peter Loyola played beautiful music together and are now in the finals following their 6-2, 6-3 whipping of the time-tested tandem of Jack McClure and Don Dunlop.

Padilla and Loyola are now in a wait-and-see mode and will play the winner between the top-seeded team of Faheem Ebrahim and Roy Pangelinan and open greenhorns Buddy Garote and Richard Asuncion.

Padilla continued on his tear through the tournament, teaming up with combustible Nicolas Son, this time in the men’s 4.5, and advanced to the championship after upsetting No. 1 seeds Elmer Guzman and Ronnie Lacbayo 6-4, 7-6 (6-3).

It was the fourth major upset of the tournament in five days, counting the rainout on Saturday.

Action in the men’s 4.0 division, meanwhile, had Boboy Sergio and Alfredo Quiroz move on to the semifinals after outplaying giant killer Jonathan Frasco and Matt Buenabajo 6-4, 6-1.

The other side of the quarterfinal draw saw good friends Mohammad Ashraf and Joe Motto Sr. completely dominate Noel Dognidon and Nap Regalado 6-0, 6-2.

The upset trend in the Saipan Tennis Association-organized event also reached the men’s 3.0 with the top-ranked duo of Richard Brostrom and Gary Ramsey getting the boot.

Father Ryan Jimenez and Benito Toshi delivered the last rites to the Commonwealth Health Center pair and are on to the semifinals after scoring a hard-earned 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) victory.

Even the women top seeds were bitten by the upset bug Sunday. The latest to fall were Merle Hudkins and Gina Lopez, who were victimized by up-and-coming youth netters Kanani Ashraf and Audrey Motto 6-3, 6-3.

Ashraf and Motto will pit skills and talents with Cleofe Santos and Ligaya Paculanang for all the marbles.

One other women’s match was played but was suspended because of rain. At the time the heavens opened up, Paculanang and Santos were on top 4-6, 6-4, 5-3 over Nelia Luna and Audrey Motto in the women’s open semifinals. Motto, incidentally, was a late replacement for power-hitter Mayuko Arriola.

The winner of the suspended match will face either the duo of Young Son and Letty Jones or the team of Kanani Ashraf and Hudkins for the championship.

Doubles play will continue tonight at the AMP tennis courts. Singles and mixed doubles get underway tomorrow, Aug. 4.

Sponsor Verizon has committed $1,000 in cash and about $2,000 worth of cellular phones, phone cards, t-shirts, caps, and other merchandize to STA for the tournament.

For more information on the 2nd Verizon Cup please call Roy Pangelinan at 256-7769, Nelia Luna at 288-5151/287-0859, Agnes Salazar at 287-0858, Richard Asuncion at 287-0856, Babu Malayil at 286-9745, or Lope Padilla at 286-9733. Those interested can also e-mail STA at saipan_tennis@yahoo.com.