Top seeds still hitting in Coca Cola tennis

Much action was witnessed in the 5th Annual Coca-Cola Tennis Championships at the Pacific Islands Club tennis courts, with Mayuko Arriola and Vivian Lee fighting their way to the final of the women’s open, while the top three seeds in the men’s open remain alive as of press time yesterday.

No. 1 Faheem Ebrahim proved he had fully recovered from a foot injury that sidelined him for about half a year and had an easy time beating Felipe Quiroz in straight sets, 6-0 and 6-0. Quiroz advanced to play Ebrahim in the quarterfinals after breezing past youth netter Ralph Buenaventura Friday night, 6-3 and 6-2.

With the win, Ebrahim moved ahead and was scheduled to battle power server Rory Mackay last night. Mackay was coming off a thrilling three-set victory over fourth seed Jung Mun Chung. Mackay squeaked past the 2003 South Pacific Games veteran 6-4 in the opening set, however, Chung showed his confidence was far from being broken as he came back strong in the second set to return the favor, 6-4. Chung couldn’t carry momentum, though, and Mackay earned his semis ticket with a 6-2 clincher.

Last night’s other semifinal match featured third seed Jeff Race taking on second seed Todd Montgomery.

Both had tough roads to their showdown with Race edging Peter Loyola and Montgomery slipping past Tim Quan, both needing three sets to advance.

Race, who captained the Pacific Oceania Davis Cup team in their recent victory over Lebanon, was good to go despite a hand injury and took the early advantage with a 6-4 first set win. Loyola put up better numbers in the second set and mustered just enough juice to force a third set with a 7-6 win. However, he began cramping and was not able to continue his strong push. Race went on to close the match at 6-3.

For his part, Mongomery shook off a slow start and after dropping the first set, 2-6, found his stroke and leveled the match at a set a piece with a 6-3 win. Both players were determined to advance and hit a fair share of winners, eventually fighting into a tiebreaker, and after a series of exchanges, it was Montgomery who worked his magic good enough for a 7-6 (8-6) clincher.

In the men’s 4.0, Craig Buboltz earned a free ride to the semifinals when Gerald Narisco failed to suit up. Buboltz played Richard Asuncion in one half of the semis, while Fernando Cajigan and veteran Ed Johnson squared off in the other half. Cajigan defeated Simon Peter Gregorio earlier in the day 6-2 and 6-2, while Johnson and Asuncion had byes in the opening round.

Herctor Benitez and Evan Hunsberger also earned semis tickets, with Benitez beating Donald Blonden 6-4, 6-2 and Hunsberger pushing past John Jenkins 7-6 (7-3), 6-0. Benitez will play No. 1 Russell Buenaventura while Hunsberger faces Father Ryan Jimenez for the right to play in the title match today.

The men’s masters title tiff is also set as top seeds Eli Buenaventura and Haruki Nakajima face off today. The two were the only entries in the category.

Meanwhile, Arriola and Lee are scheduled to go at it for all the marbles in the women’s open at 2pm today. As usual, Arriola brought her “A” game and kept her title hopes intact with a straight sets win over Rosalita Pasana 6-1 and 6-3, while Lee fired away and rode on cruise control with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Shinobu Furrh. Arriola and Lee are seeded one and two in the competition.