Singles heats up, Heo collects second title

Five players advanced to the quarters of the men’s 4.0 singles, while youth netters Keith Gabaldon and Ji Hoon Heo took home the men’s doubles 4.5 title as the 2nd Annual Toyota Tennis Tournament continued Wednesday night at the American Memorial Park tennis courts.

Gabaldon and Heo entertained upset thought all throughout their finals match-up against the May-September, fire-and-ice tandem of Lito Cabrera and Nicolas Son.

The youngsters surprised the favored duo with a 6-4 victory in the opening set, but allowed their inexperience to show in the second, as Cabrera and Son knotted the set count at one apiece with a convincing 6-2 win.

With the match stretching to a third and deciding set, Gabaldon and Heo took advantage of their younger legs to tire out the much older Cabrera even as Son fired away with his viscous forehand.

In the end Gabaldon and Heo had more gas on their tanks and they eventually took the third set 6-3 to wrap up the 4.5 men’s title.

The championship is the second in two days for Heo. On Tuesday, the 13-year-old firebrand teamed up with crafty Peter Loyola to bag the men’s open title against Cabrera and Son’s older brother, Daniel.

Meanwhile, play in the men’s 4.0 singles was marked by a couple of upsets as Abet Encarnacion and Ricky Castro advanced to the quarterfinals.

Encarnacion pulled the rug from under Coral Ocean Point’s Gerald Narciso, matching the veteran’s power game with fancy moves of his own to win in straight sets 6-2, 6-1.

Castro, for his part, didn’t let a frustrating opening set ruin his evening and demoted the other half of the men’s doubles 4.0 champions, Romy “Colonel” Sotto, 1-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4.

Joining the two in the Elite Eight are Father Ryan Jimenez, Jorge Olanda, and Michael Roberts.

Jimenez celebrated the election of Pope Benedict XVI with a 6-0, 6-3 win over good friend Didith Julve, who is coming back from semi retirement. Olanda, meanwhile, had the easiest victory of the night, recording a walkover win against Babu Malayil.

Roberts neutralized veteran Tony Santos’ slices with his height and took the match in two tightly fought sets 7-6 (7-5), 7-5.

In the lone mixed doubles match of the evening, Ligaya Paculanang and Richard Asuncion got the better of Edwin Maratas and Dinalette Jones 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.