Lee, Motto fight back for semifinal tickets

Rising stars Vivian Lee and Audrey Motto came through in the clutch Sunday night and survived a tough quarterfinals match in the ongoing 3rd Annual Taga Tennis Tournament at the American Memorial Park tennis courts.

After getting off to a rough start which featured a disappointing 1-6 opening set loss to Rose Pederson and Karen Buetner, the young guns recovered and showed mental toughness as they retaliated by returning the favor, 6-1, to force a do-or-die third set. The junior netters refused to slow down and with momentum in their corner, completed the comeback show with a 6-3 clincher.

With the win, the two set up a semifinal meeting with Young Son and Mayuko Arriola last night, however, results weren’t available as of press time.

Also finding success in the women’s corner were Cleofe Santos and Thea Minor, who had their way against Nelia Luna and Jay El-Rahi for a straight sets 6-2, 6-3 victory.

In men’s action veterans Ed Johnson and Lope Padilla earned a free ticket to the men’s open semifinals after winning by default over Ralph Buenaventura and Jeff Race.

Johnson and Padilla advanced to play Peter Loyola and Roy Pangelinan, while the other half of the semis features Son brothers Nicolas and Daniel taking on Lito Cabrera and Ji Hoon Heo.

The duo of Art Lopez and Mario Buensuceso also came up with a thrilling win as they came from behind to stun Babu Malayil and Rodel Macasinag in the men’s 3.0, 1-6, 6-4, and 6-2.

Xu Jun and Diony Peralta also survived a three-setter in the same category after edging the father-son combo from Tinian, Sonny and Benjie Decena. Jun and Peralta took the first set with ease, 6-2, but the Decena family came back strong and won the second set, 6-4. Jun and Peralta, however, responded just in time and advanced with a 6-4 clincher.

For their part, Jaime Hagos and Ed Casing also needed three sets to advance, beating Orly De Leon and Boy Cruz 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.

Duos that didn’t even have to lift their racquets to win were Ralph Alvarado and Larry Fortes in the men’s 2.0 and Renato Espanola and Hector Benitez in the men’s 4.5. Both pairs won by default.

The tournament is sponsored by Pepsi and Miller Lite, as well as Telesource CNMI, and is hosted by the Saipan Tennis Association.

For more information, contact Roy Pangelinan at 256-7769, Nelia Luna at 288-5151 or 288-0859, Ricky Castro at 285-7344, Agnes Salazar at 286-8472, Vangie Espanola at 285-1468, Richard Asuncion at 287-0856, Edwin Maratas at 287-0870, Noel Manalang at 287-4415, Lenny Pantaleon at 285-9500, Peter Loyola at 285-3135, Marlon Estigoy at 287-0895, or email at saipan_tennis@yahoo.com