Rain fails to dampen netters

The on-and-off downpour last Saturday night and early morning Sunday failed to discourage the all-weather tennis players of Saipan and Tinian, as four pairs managed to finish their matches in the 3rd Annual Verizon Cup at the American Memorial Park tennis courts.

On Saturday, veteran Edgar Casing and Saipan newcomer Jack Evans were pushed to the limit before prevailing over Benjie Decena and Joe San Nicolas Jr. in the men’s 3.5 division.

In a match that took more than four and a half hours to finish, Casing and Evans got the full measure of the Tinian youth netters’ savvy on the court and dropped the first set, 6-3.

Casing and Evans’ rhythm was repeatedly snapped by the intermittent rain, which appeared not to faze Decena and San Nicolas, who both clearly took advantage of the veterans’ slow start.

The more senior players, however, played much better in the second, but not without a lot of pain, as Evans was already feeling the first stages of fatigue after teeing up for the Tournament of Champions earlier in the day, and Casing had trouble running at his normal speed with the wet surface.

But, somehow the duo persevered, and aided in part by not a few unforced errors and untimely double faults by San Nicolas and Decena, Casing and Evans were able to force a third and deciding set by holding fort in the second, 6-3.

Luckily for both teams, organizer Saipan Tennis Association had earlier mandated that pre-quarterfinal matches going into a third set should use the swifter tiebreak system.

Casing and Evans took the early initiative in the tiebreak, as they went up 4-2, only to have Decena and San Nicolas rally and level the count at 6-6. But that would be the young guns’ last hurrah.

Holding serve, Evans gave himself and Casing match point when Decena and San Nicolas failed top control his serve. He then completed the comeback with another magnificent service that was shot wide by San Nicolas, which ended the protracted match in a score of 4-6, 6-3, 8-5.

Both Casing and Evans agreed that the two Tinian youth netters played a heck of a match and encouraged the duo to just continue on playing and improving.

Making improvements is probably on the top of Richard Asuncion and Gerald Narciso’s to-do list, as the duo again suffered a crushing defeat, this time against the upset-conscious pairing of Boyet Minor and Feel Kalen in the men’s 4.0.

Minor and Kalen wanted to get a head start before the heavens open up with its showers and seemed to be quite in a hurry as the duo dominated Asuncion and Narciso early en route to winning the opening set, 6-3.

Asuncion and Narciso appeared to have regained their bearings in the second set and put up a better fight, but it wasn’t really their day, or tournament, as they eventually yielded the contest in a count of 6-3, 7-5.
Advancing Friday were the pairs of Joe San Nicolas and Sonny Decena, who won by walkover against Alfredo Quiroz and Jonathan Frasco. Also winning were Abet Encarnacion and Keith Gabaldon, who waylaid Ricky Castro and Roy Banados.

STA president Roy Pangelinan said despite the foul weather, the 3rd Verizon Cup is soldiering on. In fact, the two-time head of the tennis club said everyone from the officers, to the members, down to the players have been going all out in helping to dry the courts, sometimes “fighting” over who gets to drag the squeegee across the tennis courts first.