Ralph completes threepeat

Youth standout Ralph Buenaventura successfully defended his boys’ 18-and-under singles title, winning it for a third consecutive time during yesterday’s rain-soaked 2005 Calvo’s Insurance Junior Tennis Fall Classic at the American Memorial Park tennis courts.

Buenaventura and fellow standout Nicolas Son’s finals match, as well as other matches, were interrupted with rain delays three times before a victor was crowned.

Buenaventura had control of the match in the early goings, taking a 2-0 lead in the first set before the first rain delay hit.

Action resumed and Buenaventura continued to dominate as he stormed ahead by winning the next two games. Son then took advantage of consecutive double faults by Buenaventura to make it 1-4, but after another rain delay, Buenaventura took the next two games to take the set, 6-1.

Action was intense in the second set as the netters engaged in numerous long rallies. They split the first four games, 2-2, and Buenaventura profited from a couple of double faults by Son to go up, 3-2. He easily took the next two games for a 5-2 lead, but Son quickly retaliated on serve as he drilled consecutive aces and used his power to close the gap, 3-5.

Buenaventura was serving for the match with Son providing stiff resistance, but after another long rally, it was Buenaventura who pulled the right strings to win, 6-3.

Keith Gabaldon finished in third place with a shortened 6-1 win over female sensation Mayuko Arriola.

Meanwhile, Tinian’s Benjie Decena went home with the boys’ 14-and-under title with a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Henry Yang, while Dominic von Siebenthal defeated James Camacho, 7-5, for third place.

Joe Motto Jr. had his way against Rafael Jones to claim the boys’ 10-and-under title with a 6-2 victory, while R.J. Knecht edged Michael Grandinetti, 7-6 (8-6), for third place.

Audrey Motto, for her part, went undefeated in the round-robin girls’ 14-and-under singles competition to emerge as champion. Motto defeated Vivian Lee 6-3, 6-2 on Friday, stopped Lila Mailman 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday, and had her way against Shane Jones 6-0, 6-0 yesterday. Mailman placed second after beating Jones and Lee.

Thea Minor also took top honors with a 6-0 victory over Ilia Corella. She advanced to the finale with a 6-0 win over Adele Hudkins while Corella had the same result against Gabrielle Race.

Doubles champions were also crowned as Arriola and Mailman joined forces to top the girls’ 15-and-under division, stopping Motto and Lee in straight sets 6-1, 6-4.

Jessica Soll and Cleo von Siebanthal won the girls’ 12-and-under crown with an 8-2 victory over Corella and Michaela Grandinetti, while Race and Hudkins worked past Rachel Kim and Neghar Rastguiy, 6-1, to win the girls’ 9-and-under title.

Dominic von Siebanthal and Joe Motto Jr. were top winners in the boys’ 14-and-under category with an 8-0 victory over Hunter Thorpe and Bradley Brostrom. Von Siebanthal and Motto reached the finals with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Henry Lee and Woo Suk Chang in the semis.

Also leaving with top honors were Cody Race and Rafael Jones, who defeated Angelo Jones and Jake Lee, 6-4, to win the boy’s 10-and-under crown.

One match remains to be settled as Gabaldon and Arriola will face Buenaventura and Ji Hoon Heo in the finals of the boys’ 18-and-under doubles later this week. The delay was due to the rainy weather.