Lehnert, Arcilla star for PH team

JOHNNY Arcilla and Katharina Lehnert advanced to the semifinals with impressive wins even as the Philippines moved up in the team event by downing Malaysia yesterday in the Southeast Asian Invitational Tennis Championships in Bangkok.

Arcilla, 34, drubbed Vietnam’s Hoang Thien Nguyen, 6-2, 6-3, to advance against top seed Kittipong Wachiramanowong of Thailand. The Thai handily defeated Burma’s (Myanmar) Zaw San Oo, 6-0, 6-1.

Second seed Lehnert, who is making her maiden stint as a Filipino campaigner, booted out Vietnam’s Phin Khanh Huynh, 6-3, 6-1. The Fil-German will next take on third seed Kamon Won Buayam of Thailand, who edged Grende Tami of Indonesia, 7-5, 6-2.

Patrick John Tierro and Marian Jade Capadonia bowed out in the quarterfinals. Tierro lost to Ming Quan Do of Vietnam, 6-2, 4-0 (ret) while Capadocia bowed to fourth seed Dai Trang Huyng of Vietnam, 6-1, 6-4.

Also losing in the quarterfinals were Treat Huey and Ruben Gonzales,  who took an upset loss from Indonesians Sunu Wahyu Trijat and Armando Soe Marno, 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 12-10, in the men’s doubles.

Also suffering the same fate was the PH women’s doubles team of Edilyn Balanga and Clarice Patrimonio who dropped a 4-6, 6-3, 10-5 decision to Indonesia’s Tami and Efrilia Herlina.

In team tennis, the Filipino netters downed Malaysia, 2-0, to arrange a semifinal duel with Indonesia which ousted Burma, 2-0.

The event serves to fill up the slack following the scrapping of tennis in the Burma  Southeast Asian Games next month.  Marc Anthony Reyes