Doctor-doctor duo takes Verizon 3.0 title

The doctor-doctor duo of Gary Ramsey and Richard Brostrom capped their impressive run as a team on a high note Thursday night, earning the coveted championship crown of the 3rd Annual Verizon Tennis Cup’s men’s 3.0 doubles category at the American Memorial Park tennis courts.

Ramsey and Brostrom had their work cut out for them, though, and had to pull out all their tricks to stop the relentless effort of Dr. Alberto Ventura and Yesman Gurung.

After having their way in the opening set, 6-2, Ramsey and Brostrom seemed to have momentum going into the second set, but Ventura and Gurung weren’t ready to raise the white flag and retaliated with a fury.

Ventura and Gurung fought hard and threw everything they had at the doctor-doctor team, eventually coming out victorious, 7-5, to force a decisive third set.

However, Ramsey and Brostrom were able to recover and took care of business with style as they closed the set and the match, and stamped their names onto the champions list with a 6-3 win.

Also grabbing a piece of the spotlight was the team of Letty and Delia Jones, who unlike Ramsey and Brostrom, secured their women’s open championship without even breaking a sweat as youth sensation Mayuko Arriola and Young Son defaulted due to Arriola nursing an injury.

Meanwhile, Manuel Manalang and Felisha De Brum were cruising in their mixed doubles 3.0 bout and went on to defeat Marlon Estigoy and Grace Sanders in straight sets 6-1, 6-4.

Several singles matches were also played before the night was over, one of which thrilled those in attendance.

Hector Benitez and Toshi Beltau engaged in a marathon-like bout as the two took each other to the limit before Benitez pushed the right buttons to emerge victorious in the men’s 4.0.

Benitez drew first blood and took the opening set, 6-4, but the favor was soon returned as Beltau responded with a 6-3 win.

The two were neck-and-neck in the final set, and eventually headed into a tiebreaker, where Benitez kicked into higher gear and closed out with a 7-6 (6-1) clincher.

Also seeing action in the 4.0 were Tony Santos and Art Lopez, with Santos scoring a 6-2, 6-1 victory. Fr. Ryan Jimenez also advanced with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Jaime Hagos, while Steve Nutting defeated Alfredo Quiroz 6-4, 6-1.

Veteran Richard Asuncion also had a successful evening, beating Chuck Sayon 6-1, 6-3 in the 4.5 category, while Ed Casing won by default over Eugene Dasalia in the 3.0.

Verizon Cup action continued last night and will conclude with an award ceremony and end-of-tournament banquet, which would be held on the last day of the two-week and three-day long event on Aug. 20 at the AMP grounds.

For more information about the 3rd Annual Verizon Tennis Cup, contact STA president Roy Pangelinan at 287-7697, vice president-internal Nelia Luna at 288-5151 or 287-0859, vice president-external Ricky Castro at 484-2969, auditor Marlon Estigoy at 287-0895, and secretary Lenny Panteleon 285-9500.