A family affair at Toyota

A day after her older sister took home the women’s doubles 4.0 crown, Joe Motto Jr. got his own championship tale to swap on the dinner table when he won the men’s singles 2.0 title of the 2nd Annual Toyota Tennis Court.

The nine-year-old student from Whispering Palms School belied his tender age Tuesday night and won the championship of the beginners’ division against Roy Ocanada 6-2, 6-4 at the American Memorial Park tennis courts.

A few hours later, the Motto family made it a double victory for the night—three wins since Monday—when 13-yar-old Audrey teamed up with dad Joe Sr. to advance to the finals of the mixed doubles 3.0.

Going up against the husband-and-wife tandem of Gary and Karen Ramsey, father and daughter set aside the generation gap and proceeded to play beautiful music together and won to the tune of 6-3, 6-0.

Longtime doubles partners Manny Jaraplasan and Merle Hudkins, meanwhile, finally got past a Ligaya Paculanang-led team when they defeated the other half of the women’s doubles 4.0 championship team and her partner Hiob Ngirachemoi.

In a classic four-hour showdown marked by several rain delays, Jaraplasan and Hudkins outlasted Paculanang and Ngirachemoi in three evenly matched and hotly contested sets 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3) to move into the semifinals.

Also advancing to the Final Four are the pairs of Keith Gabaldon and Vivian Lee and Johnny Johnson and Letty Jones.

Youngsters Gabaldon and Lee used their boundless reserves of energy to turn back the mama-and-papa tandem of Hector Benitez and Cleofe Santos 6-1, 7-5, while Johnson and Jones had the easiest outing of the night, winning by walkover against the mother-and-daughter pair of Sadako and Mayulo Arriola.

Buddy Garote was pretty much at home in the inclement weather, as he works for a water delivery company, and it showed in his 6-3, 6-4 conquest of Craig Buboltz.

Defending champion Peter Loyola, meanwhile, didn’t feel much of a champ in his game against dangerous Nicolas Son, but the former collegiate standout battled through flu-like symptoms to hack out an impressive 6-2, 6-0 win.

Loyola’s triumph allowed him to advance to the championship, where he is awaiting the victor of the duel between youth netters Ji Hoon Heo and Johnny Johnson.

Organizer Saipan Tennis Association, meanwhile, would like to extend its condolences to the family of member Dencio Daquioag, who succumbed from an apparent stroke early Tuesday morning.

Daquioag always made himself available during tournaments, especially in banquets at the AMP and was almost always the first man at the barbecue grill. STA is accepting donations in behalf of his family.