Matches go the distance in Toyota tourney

Four of the seven doubles matches that went on Friday in the 2nd Annual Toyota tennis Tournament at the American Memorial Park tennis courts were decided in the third set.

In the men’s 4.5, the powerhouse tandem of Richard Asuncion and Gerald Narciso were almost victimized by the true-and-tested team-up of Tony Santos and Ed Johnson.

Johnson, who is late replacement for firebrand Jess Pacheco, and Santos gave their much younger opponents a neat lesson in hitting the corners in the opening set, which they took handily.

Santos continued to wield his patented slice shots and Johnson ran the court ragged in the second set, but Asuncion and Narciso finally settled down and made a contest out of it.

The set would eventually go to tiebreak with Asuncion and Narciso getting the breaks at the end to level the count at a set apiece.

In the third and deciding set, both doubles teams were again involved in a nip-and-tuck affair with Asuncion and Narciso finally nailing the set and the match in a score of 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-5.

Tables will be turned when Asuncion and Narciso face youth netters Keith Gabaldon and Ji Hoon Heo next in the semis.

In the lower bracket, Nicolas Son and Lito Cabrera got out of the first round following a 6-2, 6-3 win over Boyet Minor and Buddy Garote. Son and Cabrera’s next opponents will be defending champions Peter Loyola and Hector Benitez.

Like Asuncion and Narciso in the men’s 4.5, Art Lopez and Romy “Colonel” Sotto also took the long route in the men’s 4.0, needing three sets to dispose of Babu Malayil and Ricky Castro, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Despite losing in the men’s 4.5, Garote could find solace that he and partner Benitez advanced to the semis of the men’s 4.0 after their 6-4, 6-4 triumph over the Commonwealth Health Center pair of Dodong Espanola and Dr. Bert Ventura.

Eric Mahinay and Lacbayo, meanwhile, gave Michael Robert a not-so-pleasant send-off after they defeated Robert and his longtime playing partner, Father Ryan Jimenez, 6-3, 6-3. The Toyota event reportedly is Robert’s final tournament on island as he and his family will be moving back to the U.S. mainland.

The other CHC pair seeing action in the division, Dr. Richard Brostrom and Dr. Gary Ramsey, survived the first round after their opponents failed to show up.

In the men’s 3.0, Francis Mangsat and John Jenkins had to pull out all the stops in winning a three-set decision against Bobby Nato and Rodel Macasinag 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Aramis Reyes and Romy Caronan also walked the tightrope before besting Malayil and Sathiyan Kalarikkal 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.